Deer Tests Positive for CWD in Portage County

Chronic wasting disease



Photo:   Wisconsin DNR and CWD Alliance
Chronic wasting disease Photo: Wisconsin DNR and CWD Alliance

STEVENS POINT, WI (WSAU) -- A deer from Portage County has tested positive for Chronic Wasting Disease.

In a press release from the Wisconsin Department of Agriculture, Trade, and Consumer Protection, a white-tail deer harvested in Portage County has tested positive for CWD.

The three-year-old buck that tested positive was shot on a 220-acre hunt ranch. The buck was purchased by the hunt ranch from a Portage County breeding farm. Both locations have been quarantined.

The 11-acre breeding farm has 42 white-tailed deer and is enrolled in the CWD Herd Status program. The ranch has 156 deer and elk and will have additional testing requirements to analyze the spread of the disease. 

DATCP’s Division of Animal Health will investigate the animal’s history and trace movements of deer onto and off the breeding farm to determine whether other herds may have been exposed to the CWD-positive deer.

CWD is a fatal disease that impacts deer, elk, and moose.

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