Category: Deer hunting
Posted by Dave Spratt on Mon, Sep 1, 2008 at 10:01 PMMore on chronic wasting disease
If you've been following the horrible news that Michigan is now a chronic wasting disease state, you know that the Department of Natural Resources has been very aggressive in its efforts to stop the spread of the insidious, fatal disease.
The 50 or so deer in the Kent County facility where the disease turned up have been destroyed. A testing program for road-killed and hunter-killed wild deer in the area has been established.
All 500+ of Michigan's captive deer and elk facilities are under quarantine.
Feeding and baiting deer are banned in the Lower Peninsula until further notice.
But there's more.
I hear that the owner of the deer that tested positive had sent five deer to two other facilities in the weeks preceding the positive test, greatly increasing the chances that CWD now has at least three homes in Michigan.
Nice.
If this disease reaches the state's wild deer, we're all going to feel it. And any measures the DNR and the Department of Agriculture can take to stop its spread whould be widely applauded.
Let's hope like hell it's enough.
