Wasting disease shows up in Kent County deer
by Howard Meyerson | The Grand Rapids Press
Tuesday August 26, 2008, 8:00 AM
A whitetail deer born and culled from a Kent County deer farm has chronic wasting disease, state wildlife officials announced Monday. It is the first time the neurological disease that is fatal to deer has turned up in Michigan.
The disease's presence means broad changes for some hunters and deer farm owners.
"It's triggering bait-and-feeding restrictions for whitetail deer in all of the Lower Peninsula, and carcass handling restrictions in the hot zone," said Becky Humphries, director of the state's Department of Natural Resources.
That hot zone consists of Tyrone, Solon, Nelson, Sparta, Algoma, Courtland, Alpine, Plainfield and Cannon townships. Hunters who kill deer in those townships will be required to bring them into DNR check stations for testing.
Hunters outside the zone are strongly encouraged to have their deer checked and tested. DNR officials plan to increase the number of check stations in West Michigan.
A Lower Peninsula ban on baiting deer will be issued today or Wednesday, according to Humphries. Bait piles encourage deer to congregate, which may spread infection.
The ban is a preventative move, one of several called for by the state's Chronic Wasting Disease Task force in a 2003 report prepared for Gov. Jennifer Granholm. The strategy was developed after Wisconsin announced in 2002 that it found CWD in deer.
Michigan officials have been monitoring the disease's progress. The state strategy calls for restrictions if the disease is found within 50 miles of the Michigan border.
The disease first was identified in 1967 in a captive mule deer in a Colorado wildlife research facility. It was diagnosed in free-ranging elk in 1981, in free-ranging mule deer in 1985, and in white-tailed deer in 1990. The first diagnosis in privately owned elk occurred in Saskatchewan in 1996.
The disease now is found in several states, including Illinois and Wisconsin, and Canadian provinces. Officials believe the spread of CWD is connected with moving deer from one captive facility to another.
To date, there is no indication any wild, free-ranging Michigan deer have the disease. The 3-year-old female doe with CWD is the first reported case in Michigan.
Deer farms all over the state also are being quarantined. There are 580, including breeding farms, hobby and exhibition facilities and ranches.
In West Michigan, there are six sites of concern: the Kent County facility where the sick deer was found -- which officials are not identifying -- and five others in Osceola and Montcalm counties that did business with the Kent County farm.
Don Koivisto, director for the Michigan Department of Agriculture, said five facilities were quarantined over the weekend. Their records are being examined to trace the sale and transfer of deer over the past five years.
Meanwhile, state wildlife disease specialists say they intend to increase monitoring and surveillance in the hot zone to determine whether any free-ranging or other deer are infected.
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