CWD first appears in Chippewa County, Wisconsin, in wild deer

For the first time in Chippewa County, Wisconsin, chronic wasting disease (CWD) has been detected in a wild deer, prompting the renewal of baiting and feeding bans in two counties.

Wisconsin Department of Natural Resources (DNR) reported yesterday, a positive case of a fatal neurodegenerative disease in a 1-year-old buck taken by a hunter within 10 miles of the Barron and Dunn county lines.

Under state law, Chippewa County will renew its 3-year ban on baiting and feeding deer, and Barron County will renew its 2-year ban on baiting and feeding deer. Dunn County already has a 3-year baiting and feeding ban in place, so they will not be impacted by this finding.

“Baiting or feeding deer encourages them to unnaturally congregate around a common food source, where an infected deer can spread CWD through direct contact with a healthy deer or indirectly by leaving infectious prions in their saliva, blood, feces and urine,” the DNR wrote.

The first cases in Wisconsin were identified in 2002

The Wisconsin DNR has been tracking the state’s wild white-tailed deer population since 1999, with the first cases identified in 2002.

Baiting or feeding deer encourages them to unnaturally congregate around a common food source, where an infected deer can spread CWD through direct contact with a healthy deer or indirectly by leaving infectious prions in their saliva, blood, feces and urine.

CWD is caused by infectious misfolded proteins called prions that spread among cervids such as deer, elk and moose. It is not known whether the disease infects humans, but some experts fear it may cause an illness similar to another prion disease: bovine spongiform encephalopathy (“mad cow disease”). The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention warns against eating meat from infected animals.