Governor Walker is ordering state agencies to step up containment efforts to fight chronic wasting disease in the state’s deer herd.
Under the new guidelines, deer farms will need to improve their fencing, deer farmers won’t be able to move any deer from CWD quarantine areas, and hunters won’t be allowed to move whole deer carcasses out of CWD quarantine areas.
“We need to protect Wisconsin’s hunting traditions and long-standing heritage by working together to contain the spread of chronic wasting disease in deer,” said Governor Walker. “Wisconsin put together a comprehensive plan years ago that implemented new testing procedures to identify and root out CWD while committing to new steps to combat CWD. Today, we will move forward on implementing new rules that will place us among the leaders in the nation’s fight against CWD.”
Wisconsin Wildlife Federation director George Meyer says that the new rules will help contain the spread. “Hopefully we won’t have as rapid of a spread into other areas of the state, which will slow down the disease.”
Meyer calls these efforts a good first step, and but more extensive monitoring may be needed. “Clearly there’s a need for additional monitoring of the deer herd in the state. The DNR did step it up last fall, but they may may have to wait until the next state budget.”
Both the Department of Agriculture, Trade and Consumer Protection as well as the Department of Natural Resources will be tasked to implement the new measures.