WISCONSIN NEWS: October CWD Hunt Scrapped by Governor

Wisconsin will give up trying to control a contagious disease affecting the state's deer population.

Gov. Scott Walker on Friday rejected state wildlife officials' request to run a four-day October antlerless deer hunt in the chronic wasting disease zone, saying he wants to streamline Wisconsin's hunting season structure.

Walker said he's abiding by a report Texas deer researcher James Kroll gave to the Department of Natural Resources in June. The governor hired Kroll to review the DNR's deer hunting regulations and strategies. Kroll noted hunters are unhappy with what they see as a complex web of multiple hunting seasons and questioned whether the October hunt generated enough kills in the CWD zone to continue.

Unless the epidemiology of CWD changes to become less contagious (it develops an R-sub zero of less than 1.0, as experts would say) we can expect the disease to spread throughout the state.

Source: Madison.com

IOWA NEWS: First CWD Case

Chronic wasting disease has been found in a white-tail deer on a hunting preserve in southern Iowa. Officials are calling this an isolated incident. The first ones always are. Iowa has been testing for about a decade now, and this is the first confirmed case.

Iowa has tested 42,557 wild deer and over 4,000 captive deer and elk as part of the surveillance program since 2002 when CWD was found in Wisconsin.

Source: Star Tribune

TEXAS NEWS: CWD Detected in Wild Deer

Samples from two mule deer recently taken in far West Texas have been confirmed positive for Chronic Wasting Disease (CWD). These are the first cases of CWD detected in Texas deer. Wildlife officials believe the event is currently isolated in a remote part of the state near the New Mexico border.

Source: cwd-info.org

WISCONSIN NEWS: Deer Feeding Ban in NW Counties

The Wisconsin DNR banned the baiting and feeding of deer in Barron, Burnett, Polk and Washburn counties because of the recent discovery of chronic wasting disease in the area. The ban goes into effect May 10, 2012. The Wisconsin DNR explains their rationale:

“Baiting and feeding of deer unnecessarily increases the risk of spreading CWD and other diseases,” Hauge said. “Animal health is important to preserving our great hunting tradition and is a foundation of tourism and vital to local businesses.” Baiting and feeding increase risks of spreading communicable diseases, like CWD, by concentrating deer in one spot. Deer using one spot are more at risk for spreading a disease.

Source: Star Tribune

WISCONSIN NEWS: CWD Spreads to the Northwestern Corner of the State

From a Wisconsin DNR Press release:

The Department of Natural Resources (DNR) has announced that CWD was detected in a wild adult doe found on private property just west of Shell Lake in Washburn County.

Tissue samples have been confirmed as CWD-positive at both the Wisconsin Veterinary Diagnostic Lab, and USDA's National Veterinary Services Laboratories (NVSL) in Ames, Iowa. The DNR received the final test results late on Friday, March 30. The 3 1/2-year old doe was euthanized by the Washburn County Sheriff's Office on a small parcel of private land.

In order to find out if the disease is present in other wild deer in the area, this fall DNR will begin a focused disease surveillance effort within a 10-mile radius around the positive location.

Under state statutes, the DNR is required to enact a ban on the feeding and baiting of deer in any county that is within 10 miles of any captive or free-roaming deer that tests positive for either CWD or Tb. This CWD-positive deer is within Washburn County and may be within 10 miles of Barron, Burnett and Polk Counties. We anticipate the ban on baiting and feeding within these counties to take effect this fall.

MISSOURI NEWS: Wild Deer Test Positive for CWD

More CWD in Missouri:

Missouri officials say two more captive white-tailed deer have tested positive for a fatal illness called chronic wasting disease.

The state Department of Conservation says the positive tests bring to five the number of wild deer that have tested positive for the syndrome in Missouri.

The Columbia Missourian reported that all five infected wild white-tailed deer were killed within two miles of the Heartland Wildlife Ranch in northwestern Macon County. Infected captive deer were previously identified at the Macon County ranch, which is killing off and testing its herd.

Source: Lakenewsonline

MINNESOTA NEWS: CWD Detected in Wild Deer

Posted without comment.

The Minnesota Department of Natural Resources may have found the state's first wild deer infected with chronic wasting disease.

The deer was among 524 tested for the disease in the Pine Island area. DNR officials say preliminary screening by the University of Minnesota strongly indicates a positive case, but the agency is waiting for confirmation from the National Veterinary Services Laboratory in Ames, Iowa.

Source: WQOW

RESEARCH NEWS: A CWD Vaccine On the Horizon?

Chronic wasting disease has cast a pall over the Wisconsin deer herd and the state's deer hunting tradition since it was discovered in 2001.

One could argue the only good CWD-related news in the last decade is the nightmare scenario has not played out - the disease has not jumped the species barrier to affect humans or livestock.

Wisconsin wildlife managers have taken aggressive measures to initially try to eradicate the disease and more recently to reduce its spread. The disease is now found in a 9,000-square-mile area of south-central Wisconsin.

The primary tools have been deer reduction efforts (hunting or sharpshooting) and transport prohibitions on deer and elk.

Canadian researchers are testing a CWD vaccine they hope will add another tool to the tool box.

A Canadian team has made some promising advances, and a vaccine might be commercially available in 2 years, assuming they can raise the funding needed for development. The logistics of administering the vaccine to wild deer might prove insurmountable. However, it holds a lot of promise for captive and farmed deer.

Source: Milwaukee Journal Sentinel

NORTH DAKOTA NEWS: Deer Tests Positive for CWD

A sick-looking mule deer taken last fall in western Sioux County of southwestern North Dakota has tested positive for chronic wasting disease.

North Dakota Game and Fish Department officials were notified of the diagnosis this morning by the U.S. Department of Agriculture’s Veterinary Services. It marks the first time CWD has been detected in a North Dakota animal.

Dr. Dan Grove, wildlife veterinarian for the North Dakota Game and Fish Department, said a hunter in Unit 3F2 shot an adult buck that did not appear to be healthy.

“As we do with our targeted surveillance efforts, we collected the sample to test for CWD and bovine tuberculosis,” Grove said in a news release.

The Game and Fish Department’s targeted surveillance program is an ongoing, year-round effort that tests animals found dead or sick.

“We have been constantly monitoring and enhancing our surveillance efforts for CWD because of its presence in bordering states and provinces,” said Greg Link, assistant wildlife division chief for Game and Fish in Bismarck.

In addition to targeted surveillance, the department annually collects samples taken from hunter-harvested deer in specific regions of the state. In January, more than 3,000 targeted and hunter-harvested samples were sent to a lab in Minnesota. As of today, about two-thirds of the samples had been tested, with the one positive result. The remaining samples will be tested over the next month.

Link said monitoring efforts have intensified in recent years, and all units have been completed twice throughout the entire state.

“The deer population in Unit 3F2 is above management goals, and hunter pressure will continue to be put on the population in that unit again this fall,” Link said. “We are going to be aggressive with licenses and disease surveillance in that unit.”

Since the department’s sampling efforts began in 2002, more than 14,000 deer, elk and moose have tested negative for CWD.

CWD affects the nervous system of members of the deer family and is always fatal. Scientists have found no evidence that CWD can be transmitted naturally to humans or livestock.

Source: Grand Forks Herald

UTAH NEWS: CWD Detected in Elk

The first case of chronic wasting disease (CWD) in an Utah elk has been confirmed by state wildlife officials.

Lymph nodes from 1,400 animals -- the bulk of them mule deer and elk, but also some moose -- were collected last fall during the hunting seasons.

Results from Utah State University were returned to Division of Wildlife Resources (DWR) officials recently. Five of the mule deer samples came back as positive for CWD,
a fatal and transmissible neurological disease.

One of the 300 elk samples also came back positive. None of the moose tests showed signs of CWD. The positive elk sample came from a cow elk taken in the La Sal Mountains east of Moab.

"It was not really a surprise," said Leslie McFarlane, wildlife disease specialist with the DWR. "It came from an area where we have the highest prevalence of CWD in deer in the state. Elk do not have a high prevalence of the disease."

Thirty-four of the 48 cases of CWD infected deer have come from the La Sals. Another hot spot for CWD in deer is south and east of Mount Nebo in central Utah where seven, including two this year, have originated.

McFarlane said all but one of the positive samples came from animals killed by hunters. The other was a sickly-looking deer reported by the public on the La Sals.

None of the moose samples came back positive. There was some fear that it could have spread into northern Utah after a cow moose in southwestern Wyoming showed up positive in the fall of 2008.

There have been few developments in research or preventing the spread of CWD in the last year and McFarlane said the state wildlife agency is sticking with its position on the threat to people.

"There is no connection of any kind with human health issues," she said. However, McFarlane and the agency still encourages people to avoid eating any big game animals that appear sick and to use caution when handling animals in the field.

Source: Salt Lake Tribune

MISSOURI NEWS: CWD Detected in Captive Deer Population

The Missouri Departments of Agriculture, Conservation and Health and Senior Services and USDA announced Feb. 25 that a captive white-tailed deer in Linn County has tested positive for Chronic Wasting Disease. CWD is a neurological disease found in deer, elk and moose.
"There is no evidence that CWD poses a risk to domestic animals or humans," said State Veterinarian Dr. Taylor Woods. "We have protocols in place to quickly and effectively handle these situations."

The animal that tested positive for CWD was a white-tailed deer inspected as part of the state's CWD surveillance and testing program. The USDA National Veterinary Services Laboratory in Ames, Iowa conducted preliminary tests.

Upon receiving the confirmed CWD positive, Missouri's departments of Agriculture, Conservation and Health and Senior Services initiated their CWD Contingency Plan. The plan was developed in 2002 by the Cervid Health Committee, a task force comprised of veterinarians, animal health officers and conservation officers from USDA, MDA, MDC and DHSS working together to mitigate challenges associated with CWD.

CWD is transmitted by animal-to-animal contact or soil-to-animal contact. The disease was first recognized in 1967 in captive mule deer in the Colorado Division of Wildlife captive wildlife research facility in Fort Collins. CWD has been documented in deer and/or elk in Colorado, Illinois, Kansas, Michigan, Minnesota, Montana, Nebraska, New Mexico, New York, Oklahoma, South Dakota, Utah, Virginia, West Virginia, Wisconsin, and the Canadian Provinces of Alberta and Saskatchewan. There has been no evidence that the disease can be transmitted to humans.

"Missouri's proactive steps to put a testing protocol in place and create a contingency plan years ago are proving beneficial. We are in a solid position to follow pre-established steps to ensure Missouri's valuable whitetail deer resource remains healthy and strong," said Jason Sumners Missouri's deer biologist.

Source: Missouri Ruralist

VIRGINIA NEWS: Chronic Wasting Disease Detected in State

Chronic wasting disease has been found for the first time in a Virginia white-tailed deer.

A hunter in Frederick County killed the sickened deer this month, less than a mile from where the disease was found several years ago in West Virginia.

The illness affects portions of the deer's brain and causes a general decrease in body condition, behavioral changes, excess salivation and death.

The disease affects deer only and is not transmittable to humans or other animals, including livestock, dogs or cats.

Virginia now joins 17 states and Canadian provinces where the illness has been found.

Source: NBC29

WEST VIRGINIA NEWS: Recent CWD Cases in Hampshire County

Preliminary test results indicate the Chronic Wasting Disease agent was present in 16 hunter-harvested deer collected in Hampshire County during the 2009 deer firearms hunting season.

“As part of our agency’s ongoing CWD monitoring effort, samples were collected from 1,091 hunter-harvested deer brought to game checking stations in Hampshire County and one station near the southern Hampshire County line in Hardy County,” notes Frank Jezioro, Director for the W.Va. Division of Natural Resources.

The 16 CWD positive deer included one 4.5 year-old doe, one 2.5 year-old doe, one 1.5 year-old buck, ten 2.5 year-old bucks and three 3.5 year-old bucks. Thirteen of the latest positive deer were harvested within the Hampshire County CWD Containment Area (i.e., that portion of Hampshire County located North of U.S. Route 50). However, three were located outside the containment area but still within Hampshire County.

The area in Hampshire County from which CWD has been detected continues to expand, and the number of infected deer detected this year is 2.5 times more than last year.

CWD has now been detected in a total of 62 deer in Hampshire County (i.e., two road-killed deer, one in 2005 and one in 2008; four deer collected by the WVDNR in 2005; five deer collected by the WVDNR in 2006; one hunter-harvest deer taken during the 2006 deer season; three deer collected by the WVDNR in 2007; six hunter-harvested deer taken during the 2007 deer season; 11 deer collected by the WVDNR in 2008; six hunter-harvested deer taken during the 2008 deer season; eight deer collected by the WVDNR in 2009; and 16 hunter-harvested deer taken during the 2009 deer season).

“The WVDNR will continue to update management actions designed to control the spread of this disease, prevent further introduction of the disease, and possibly eliminate the disease from the state as information from deer testing within West Virginia is gathered and scientists across the country provide more information on how to combat CWD in white-tailed deer,” says Jezioro.

So far, the following disease management actions have been placed into operation by the WVDNR within Hampshire County:

- Implemented CWD testing efforts designed to determine the prevalence and distribution of the disease.

- Established antlerless deer hunting regulations designed to increase hunter opportunity to harvest female deer, adjust deer populations to desired levels and reduce the risk of spreading the disease from deer to deer.

- Established deer carcass transport restrictions designed to lower the risk of moving the disease to other locations.

- Established regulations designed to prohibit the feeding and baiting of deer within the affected area and reduce the risk of spreading the disease from deer to deer.

“Despite our agency’s best efforts, we continue to struggle with CWD in Hampshire County,” says Jezioro. “I am particularly concerned that some individuals are not complying with regulations prohibiting the feeding and baiting of deer within the Hampshire County CWD Containment Area.”

The WVDNR intends to renew its outreach efforts with the public on the critical need for compliance with this regulation. In addition, appropriate enforcement actions will be taken if these problems are not resolved.

“As we strive to meet this wildlife disease challenge and implement appropriate management strategies, the continued support and involvement of landowners and hunters will be essential,” says Jezioro. “The WVDNR remains committed to keeping the public informed and involved in these wildlife disease management actions as we go forward.”


Source: WHSV

WISCONSIN NEWS: Rate of CWD Spread Accelerates

Deadly chronic wasting disease will continue to spread, threatening the state’s deer population and hunting culture for years to come, a national expert said.

“Just from a conservation standpoint, thinking about the deer herd out there, this is not a good thing,” said Bryan Richards, CWD project leader for the U.S Geological Survey’s National Wildlife Health Center in Madison.

“People may well choose to go hunting elsewhere.”

The rate of the disease in bucks 2½ years old in western Dane County and eastern Iowa County, for example, was 15.5 percent in 2008, up from 10 percent in 2007, according to the Wisconsin Department of Natural Resources.

The prevalence in yearling bucks was 6 percent in 2008, double the previous year.

“I think that outcome was anticipated at least by those of us that have spent time looking at disease trends in other areas,” Richards said.

A gradual increase in the rate of the disease is expected to continue in the future, he said.

In Colorado and Wyoming, CWD slowly increased in deer over time, eventually infecting about 30 percent of deer in some herds, said Dennis Heisey, CWD research biologist for the National Wildlife Health Center.

Wisconsin likely will follow that trend, Richards said.

“In Wisconsin, our state numbers are much lower than that,” he said. “But over time, there is no reason to think we won’t get there.”

If that happens, evidence suggests hunters will go elsewhere, threatening the state’s hunting culture as a recreation and boon to the economy, Richards said.

Although research shows the disease is not threatening to humans or livestock, hunters likely would not want to hunt in areas where so many deer have CWD, he said.

And, if hunters leave, the deer herd would explode, Richards said.

Overpopulation could lead to more deer-vehicle collisions, crop damage and suburban encounters, he said.

“Lots of things go wrong when you have too many deer,” Richards said.

CWD was discovered in southern Wisconsin in February 2002. Nearly 152,000 deer have been tested for the disease, with 1,172 testing positive.

The DNR created a CWD management zone to minimize the spread of the disease. The zone includes all or parts of 16 counties in south-central Wisconsin, including Rock, Walworth, Jefferson and Green counties.

The DNR wants to manage the disease through continued population reduction. The deer population in the CWD management zone is lower than in recent years, but remains higher than population goals, according to the DNR.

Hunters in the zone can use rifles instead of shotguns, enjoy a holiday gun season and kill an unlimited number of bucks for every antlerless deer they shoot first.

Officials reviewing CWD management plan

The Wisconsin Department of Natural Resources has proposed a new chronic wasting disease management plan that aims to minimize the number of infected deer and stop the spread of the fatal disease.

The DNR’s previous goal was to try and eradicate the disease, said Dan Jones, the DNR’s CWD assistant biologist.

The strategy changed after seven years of CWD management failed to prevent an increase in the infection rate and an acceptance that the disease is not going away, according to the DNR.

“It’s become increasingly obvious that this was going to be a long-term management effort,” Jones said. “It definitely won’t be something that just goes away overnight.

“Hopefully, we can reduce it.”

The Wisconsin Natural Resources Board recently tabled the revised plan and voted to appoint a special committee to review it. The committee is expected to report back to the board at its December meeting.

According to the DNR, the CWD management plan’s key strategies include:

-- Preventing new outbreaks of CWD. Stopping CWD from cropping up in new areas of the state is less expensive and less damaging than fighting the disease after it’s established.

-- Responding to new disease locations. Aggressively responding if CWD is discovered in a new area is the best option for control.

-- Controlling distribution and intensity of CWD. This includes reducing the number of deer in infected areas through hunting and other methods.

-- Increasing public recognition and understanding of CWD risks. Residents must be informed of the latest scientific knowledge and recommendations for managing the disease.

-- Addressing the needs of hunters and residents. This includes deer testing, donating venison to food pantries, disposing of deer carcasses, monitoring for human prion diseases and examining potential risk to livestock.

-- Enhancing the scientific information about CWD with research, funding for university research and collaborating in studies conducted nationally and internationally.

How can I get my deer tested for CWD?

If hunters want their deer tested for chronic wasting disease, several local registration stations can help.

Seven stations in Rock, Walworth and Green counties work with the Wisconsin Department of Natural Resources to test deer for CWD.

Mike Foy, DNR wildlife biologist for Rock and Green County, said many local hunters voluntarily test their deer for CWD.

“There are people who do it for health reasons, there are people who do it because they’re interested in the disease, and there are people who do it because we ask them to,” he said.

The World Health Organization advises people to only eat meat from animals that test negative for CWD, Foy said.

Yet research shows the disease is not threatening to humans, said Bryan Richards, CWD project leader for the U.S Geological Survey’s National Wildlife Health Center in Madison.

The bottom line is science is in the beginning stage of knowledge and research on CWD, Foy said.

“Why take a chance?” he said. “Let’s err on the side of caution until we know more.”

When you kill a deer, take it to one of the registration stations helping with CWD testing, said Dan Jones, CWD assistant biologist for the DNR.

The registration station will collect your deer’s head and your contact information, he said. In some cases, lymph nodes can be taken from the deer’s neck for testing.

A number is assigned to the deer, and the head goes to a DNR testing lab, Jones said.

The result of the test is mailed to you on a postcard, he said. If the test is positive, you’ll get a phone call.

Hunters can have their deer tested for free, Jones said, and results will be returned in four to six weeks.

Veterinarians will test for a fee.

Testing is voluntary except in mandatory zones, including the eastern half of Rock County and the western half of Walworth County, he said.

Nearly 152,000 deer in Wisconsin have been tested for CWD, with 1,173 testing positive.

In Rock County, 5,917 deer have been analyzed for CWD, with 70 testing positive.

In Walworth County, 5,428 deer have been tested for CWD, with 54 testing positive.

The DNR plans to sample 8,250 adult deer in 2009.



Source: Janesville Gazette

MARYLAND NEWS: National Park Considers Cull to Combat CWD

The spread of a disease fatal to white-tailed deer has prompted the National Park Service to endorse a lethal response at two Civil War battlefields in western Maryland.

The agency is seeking public comment through Sept. 18 on its preferred option of potentially slaughtering hundreds of deer at the Antietam (an-TEE'-tem) and Monocacy (mah-NAH'-kah-see) national battlefields if Chronic Wasting Disease is found within 20 miles.

Both parks are within 60 miles of confirmed cases of the brain disease in West Virginia.

The park service says killing large numbers of deer could prevent the disease from becoming established among the overpopulated herds within the parks.

The contagious illness is fatal to deer but poses no apparent risk to humans.

Source: WJZ

WISCONSIN NEWS: Prevalence of CWD Jumps Up

The rate of chronic wasting disease infection in Wisconsin's white-tailed deer herd increased last year.

The prevalence rate for adult bucks 2 1/2 years or older in the first epicenter of the outbreak, which covers mostly western Dane County and eastern Iowa County, increased from 10% in 2007 to 15.5% last year, according to figures released Tuesday by the Department of Natural Resources.

The infection rate for yearling bucks increased from 3% to 6% in the same period.

Chronic wasting disease was first discovered in Wisconsin in 2002. Since then, DNR officials have analyzed almost 152,000 deer, with 1,172 free-ranging deer testing positive for the always-fatal nervous system disease.

"Five to 10 years in the future, we will know better whether this was just a one-year blip on the chart or the beginning of a trend of increasing disease prevalence in Wisconsin," population ecologist Robert Rolley said in a statement.

Researchers used sophisticated statistical techniques that adjust for factors such as age and gender to estimate infection rates, which appear to vary randomly from one year to the next. But evidence points to a general trend of a 4% infection increase each year in Wisconsin.

Chronic wasting disease has been discovered in wild deer or elk herds in 11 states and two Canadian provinces. All of the infected free-ranging deer in Wisconsin have been found in two areas: the south-central region of Dane and Iowa counties, and a spot in southeastern Wisconsin that's part of a chronic wasting disease area in northern Illinois.

Source: Milwaukee Journal-Sentinel

KENTUCKY NEWS: CWD-Based Ban on Deer and Elk Importation Unconstitutional

The Kentucky Court of Appeals ruled Friday that the state's law banning the importation of deer and elk to prevent the spread of chronic wasting disease in local herds was unconstitutionally vague.

A three-judge panel ruled Friday that Kentucky's law did not clearly define what it means to "import" animals into the state. At issue was the case of a Tennessee man arrested in 2007 on charges of illegally importing elk and deer into Kentucky.

McCracken County Circuit Court Judge Craig Clymer had ruled previously that the state law under which Timothy Cory Looper was charged was unclear and thus void. Looper was not convicted.

"He engaged in no deception," Chief Judge Sara Combs wrote in Friday's opinion. "It is reasonable to believe that he drove through Kentucky in good faith — having no fair notice from a statute lacking the precision to alert as to the possibility of criminal consequences."

Kentucky lawmakers in 2006 instituted a statewide ban on the importation of the animals into Kentucky. The law, as enforced, prohibited people from crossing Kentucky state lines with deer or elk — a measure intended to protect local herds.

Looper, of Livingston, Tenn., was arrested in 2007 near Paducah while transporting animals from Hostetler Wildlife Farms in Miller, Mo., to Wilderness Hunting Lodge in Monterey, Tenn. Looper was charged with six felony counts of illegally importing the animals into the state.

He had with him five elk, one deer, two antelope and 12 exotic sheep. The five elk and one deer were destroyed, according to the ruling.

Shane A. Young, Looper's attorney, said the law was poorly written and confusing. He said that made it difficult to understand exactly what was illegal.

The exact effect of Friday's appellate court ruling was uncertain. Attorneys for the state have the option of appealing to the state supreme court.

Bill Clary, a spokesman for the Kentucky Department of Agriculture, said the "practical consequences" of the ruling "are not very great.

Kentucky's law was also challenged in federal court in a lawsuit brought by the North American Deer Farmers Association. But a federal judge dismissed the challenge in September 2008.

Mark Marraccini, a spokesman for the Kentucky Department of Fish and Wildlife, said a new law that takes effect this summer also bans the importation of members of the deer family into the state, but allows for exemptions.

For example, the law will allow the animals to be imported if they are from a herd that has been disease-free for five years and is from a disease-free state, Marraccini said.

Source: kentucky.com

KANSAS NEWS: More CWD Cases Show Up

Five more Kansas white-tailed deer have been confirmed positive for chronic wasting disease (CWD), bringing to eight the total number of CWD incidents from the 2008 Kansas deer seasons.

The Kansas Department of Wildlife and Parks is still awaiting final lab results on about 100 more tissue samples from hunter-killed deer during the past deer season, according to Shane Hesting, KDWP wildlife disease coordinator. Tissue samples were collected from hunters around the state during the past deer season, as KDWP continued annual sampling begun in 1996 to help track the occurrence of CWD in the state’s wild deer. More than 10,000 tissue samples have undergone lab analysis since annual sampling began.

All eight deer confirmed as CWD-positive were taken by hunters in northwest Kansas. Of the five additional CWD-positive deer confirmed by KDWP this week, two came from Sheridan County, two from Rawlins County, and one from Cheyenne County.

The five newly-reported incidents are in addition to three Decatur County CWD-positive deer documented in early January by KDWP.

CWD has been detected previously in Kansas. During the 2007 season, three Decatur County whitetails were confirmed as CWD-positive. The first occurrence in a wild Kansas deer was a white-tailed doe killed by a Kansas hunter in 2005 in Cheyenne County.

For the full story see: Infozine.com

OHIO NEWS: CWD Not Detected in Ohio

According to the Ohio Department of Natural Resources (ODNR) Division of Wildlife, state and federal agriculture and wildlife officials collected 1,021 samples last year from hunter-harvested deer, primarily during the deer-gun season that ran December 1-7. All CWD testing is performed at the Animal Disease Diagnostic Laboratory of the Ohio Department of Agriculture (ODA).

In addition to CWD, 966 samples, or 94.6 percent of the hunter-harvested deer samples were also tested for bovine tuberculosis. Results found no evidence of this disease in Ohio deer. Additional CWD samples are being taken from road-killed deer, but those test results are not yet available.

Read the full story: State Journal

MICHIGAN NEWS: No CWD Detected in Wild Population

None of 9,000 free-ranging deer checked for chronic wasting disease around the state in 2008 tested positive, state wildlife official are expected to report today at the Natural Resources Commission meeting in Lansing.

The disease was discovered in one Kent County breeding farm deer last August. To date, it is the only deer to test positive for CWD. Disease experts also tested 4,000 deer on captive breeding facilities.

"We're not out of the woods yet," said Steve Schmitt, the wildlife veterinarian for the Michigan Department of Natural Resources. "We are going to do surveillance for another two years around Kent County and will always be doing some type of CWD surveillance around the state because you never know when the disease may enter the state."

Schmitt said of the 9,000 deer the agency tested statewide, 1,523 were from the nine-township zone around the farm where the infected deer was found. A total of 1,878 free-ranging deer were tested in Kent County. Another 1,845 deer were tested in the counties that surround Kent.

"The most important number is the 1,523," Schmitt said. "Those are the deer from right around the area where the sick deer was found."

Source: MLive