- MADISON, Wis. (AP) - A second
wild white-tailed deer in Rock County has tested positive for chronic wasting
disease, state wildlife officials said Thursday.
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- The female deer was killed by a hunter five miles north
of the county's 25-square mile disease eradication zone.
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- Tom Hauge, director of wildlife management, said the
finding was not unexpected.
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- The state Department of Natural Resources has collected
424 deer this season from Rock County; 201 have been analyzed, with two
testing positive.
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- "We are very grateful to the hunters and landowners
from Rock County that are helping us get the deer tissue samples we need
in order to look for this disease," Hauge said. "We would not
have found these sick deer without their help."
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- Hauge said the DNR will continue intensive surveillance
during the winter months in the area of Rock County surrounding the latest
positive result and in parts of neighboring Walworth County to determine
the distribution and severity of the disease.
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- The fatal disease was discovered near Mount Horeb in
February 2002 for the first time east of the Mississippi River. So far,
the DNR has found 240 wild deer infected with the disease in Columbia,
Dane, Iowa, Richland, Rock, Sauk and Walworth counties.
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- CWD creates sponge-like holes in a deer's brain, eventually
causing the animal to die. Scientists believe it is spread by animal-to-animal
contact.
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