Chronic Wasting Disease, a fatal, infectious nervous system disease of deer, moose, elk and reindeer, has been detected a second time in Sheboygan County in recent years, triggering a baiting and feeding ban.
A previous, three-year-baiting and feeding ban from a CWD incident in 2019 expired in December. The newly-detected case, a 4-5 year-old doe, reinstated that ban by the DNR effective on February 1st. The DNR enacts three-year baiting and feeding bans in counties where CWD has been detected, and two-year bans in adjoining counties that lie within 10 miles of a CWD detection. The most recent positive case was a deer harvested in the Town of Lyndon, and as such, will extend for two years into eastern Fond du Lac County, renewing another previously-imposed ban.
CWD belongs to the family of diseases known as “transmissible spongiform encephalopathies”, or prion diseases, that result from misfolded cell-surface proteins in the brain. To date, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention knows of no reported cases of CWD infection in people, however some studies suggest that there is a risk for monkeys and other non-human primates who come in contact with brain or body fluids from infected animals.
More information is available through this link to the Wisconsin DNR.
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