MADISON -- The Wisconsin Department of Agriculture, Trade and Consumer Protection has ordered a Portage County whitetail deer herd to be killed and tested for chronic wasting disease.
The herd, owned by Stan Hall of Almond, has been quarantined since September 2002, because animal health officials believe the animals have been exposed to chronic wasting disease. A buck shot on Hall's hunting preserve tested positive for CWD at that time. Hall's herd totals about 147 animals.
He has 10 days from receipt of the order to request a hearing with the administrative law judge for the Department of Agriculture, Trade and Consumer Protection.
The order does not set a date for killing the animals, but says it would be no sooner than 10 days after he receives it. Hall may be eligible for indemnity payments up to $1,500 per animal. He will not be charged for any of the killing and testing costs, but will be responsible for disposal costs, including cold storage until test results are available. Any animals that test positive must be incinerated; others will be landfilled.
Hall will have to burn or bury all bedding, manure, feed, wooden feeders and other wooden items that the animals touched, such as fence posts. Metal, concrete or plastic surfaces will need to be cleaned of all residue. In areas that had heavy animal traffic, he will have to remove and bury the top
two inches of soil and replace it with clean gravel or soil. DATCP and U.S. Department of Agriculture employees will then disinfect the premises. Hall must also maintain fences around his property high enough and strong enough to keep wild whitetails out. He cannot restock with any species that is
susceptible to CWD for five years, but may have other animals.
Wisconsin law authorizes the department to order farm-raised deer and elk tested for CWD if there is reason to believe they've been exposed to the disease. Because there is no live-animal test approved by the U.S. Department of Agriculture, they must be killed.
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