MADISON, Wis. – Four more whitetail deer from a Wisconsin farm-raised herd destroyed last month have tested positive for chronic wasting disease.
The four does were among 118 deer destroyed Dec. 12 on the James Hirschboeck farm.
A doe from the farm had tested positive in September, and an escaped animal shot near the farm last fall also tested positive.
All the animals from the farm have now been tested. The carcasses have been in cold storage awaiting results.
Carcasses from the positive animals will now be cremated at Midwest Cremation Service of Wisconsin, Poynette. Carcasses from the negative animals will be landfilled.
Quarantined. The farm has been cleaned and disinfected, and will remain under quarantine for deer and elk for at least a year.
Hirschboeck is free to introduce other species, however. He will receive an indemnity payment of no more than $1,500 per animal, less the costs of storage and disposal.
Until those costs are paid, a final indemnity figure will not be available.
Under investigation. Five Wisconsin farms remain under quarantine as part of the CWD on-farm investigation: two in Portage County, two in Walworth County, and one in Dane County. A farm quarantined in Marathon County was released.
The disease was found on only two of the farms – Hirschboeck’s and one of the Portage County farms. Animal movement has been stopped on the others while investigators sort out movements among the farms.
