Thursday, October 26, 2006

WISCONSIN NEWS: DNR To Change Tactics On CWD

Associated Press

The state Department of Natural Resources appears to be ready to modify its approach toward chronic wasting disease after five years of trying to eliminate the fatal brain ailment from Wisconsin's deer herd.

According to a briefing for the Natural Resources Board, which sets policy for the DNR, an assessment by DNR staffers and other specialists caused the DNR to conclude the approach should be one of containing the disease, then working to control and eliminate it.

The DNR's initial strategy when the disease was first found in the Mount Horeb area in 2002 was to kill enough deer in that area to eliminate the disease.

But a nearly $27 million effort since then has not wiped out the disease.

It remains centered in the region west of Madison in parts of Dane and Iowa counties but also has appeared in other spots across southern Wisconsin, including northern Walworth County.

The DNR says in a memo that it still favors killing a large number of deer, using "nontraditional and, potentially, controversial methods" if necessary.

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