According to recent data from the Wisconsin Department of Agriculture, Trade and Consumer Protection, 74 white-tailed deer have been killed on their property in the last five years.

The trade, Wilderness North, near Eland, remains open and deer are present on the site.

According to the records of the Department of Natural Resources, there is only one barrier separating his deer in captivity from wild deer outside.

This is the type of installation that would be required to add a second perimeter fence if an emergency rule passed last month is allowed to come into effect.

A legislative committee is expected to meet Monday in Madison to suspend all or part of the settlement.

The number of positive deer for the CWD in Wilderness North is expected to increase only this fall, a growing number of people shot by paying customers and tested for the disease, according to a former director of the state's wildlife.

"Once (CWD) is in a captive flock like this, history shows that it ultimately affects a large majority of animals," said Tom Hauge, director of DNR's retired wildlife. and now a volunteer at Green Conservation Wisconsin.

The soil of Wilderness North is probably so contaminated with CWD prions that the site would likely need many remedial measures to prevent future outbreaks of dead killer disease in the facility, said Hauge.

And as captive captive deer or contaminated soils are present, there is a risk for wild deer in the area.

The only fence in Wilderness North is a threat of nose-to-nose contact between animals on the opposite side.

Even though Wilderness North is the most extreme case, it is not the only case. Eight other Wisconsin facilities suitable for CDM are allowed to continue operations by state agricultural authorities.

At least several have unique fences, according to the records of the DNR.

Concerns over the management of CWD in Wisconsin are growing as a legislative committee prepares to consider an emergency rule passed in August.

The rule, recommended by Governor Scott Walker and unanimously approved by the Natural Resources Board, would add restrictions on the transportation of deer carcasses by hunters, as well as a strengthened fence in the United States. deer farms.

This is the first substantive rule change in perhaps 10 years aimed at reducing the spread of CWD in Wisconsin.

Another rule recommended by Governor Walker – prohibiting the transfer of deer in captivity out of CWD-positive counties – has been removed by the state's agriculture council.

It is expected that the joint committee of the legislature charged with examining the administrative rules will consider the rule of carcass transport and fencing of deer Monday in Madison.

The committee has the power to suspend all or part of the rule of urgency.

All of the state conservation groups that have looked at the issue, including the Wisconsin Wildlife Federation, Wisconsin Conservation Congress, Green Fire and Wisconsin Wisconsin, support the rule as written.

"Although we want to improve some aspects on the road, we absolutely want this rule to be maintained," said Hauge, representing the position of Green Fire in Wisconsin.

The rule would require that MDC positive installations have at least a second fence 8 feet high or a solid fence of at least 8 feet.

The intention is to reduce the risk of escaping captive animals and to prohibit contact between deer and wild deer.

If the joint legislative committee suspends the requirements for reinforced fencing, this would give the deer farms a financial break, without adding the guarantees provided for the wild herd.

In addition to Wilderness North, the following CWD-positive facilities remain open in Wisconsin: Hunt's End in Ogdensburg, 12 CWD positive animals; Apple Creek Game Farm, Gillett, 11; Three Lakes Trophy Ranch, Three Lakes, 9; Tamarack Deer and Elk Farm, Kewaskum, age 3; Comet Creek, Tigerton, 3; Peck's Farm Market II, Spring Green, 1; Wild River Whitetails, Goodman, 1 years; anonymous installation of Dennis Denman, Plain, 1.

According to the DNR, single fences are in place at Wilderness North and at Hunt's End, as well as at least on parts of the Apple Creek, Three Lakes, Tamarack Creek and Comet Creek.

Chronic debilitating disease is a progressive and transmissible neurological disease of deer, moose and moose caused by an abnormal prion or protein. It causes small lesions in the brain of infected animals, resulting in death. there is no cure.

The virus has not been shown to cause disease in humans or livestock, but health experts from the Centers for Disease Control and other agencies have recommended that the meat of CWD infected animals should not be consumed by humans.

Studies have linked MDC with declining mule deer and elk at herd level in Colorado and Wyoming.

The prions bind to the soil and are absorbed by the plants. As such, they represent a long-term risk to deer in a contaminated area.

Hauge was part of the DNR when, after several years of legal talks, state officials in 2006 depopulated the Buckhorn Flats deer farm in Portage County. Eighty MDC-positive deer have been documented on the site.

State officials felt that the risk presented by the MDC prions remained so significant in the depopulated facility that the DNR purchased the site in 2011 for $ 465,000. A second high fence was installed and it was not affected by the deer.

Pathogenic prions remain viable in the environment for at least two years, said Bryan Richards, MDC Coordinator for the United States Geological Survey.

Research has not yet shown how long the MDC prions remain infectious, but they have been documented for scrapie (in the same family of diseases as CWD) for 16 years.

"In terms of CWD prion risk, it's reasonable to say years, if not decades," Richards said.

Hauge said that although the emergency rule may not be perfect, it addresses two critical modes of CWD transmission.

"Whether it's deer farms or carcass transport, these are areas of spread of the man-assisted disease that we can act upon," Hauge said.

The meeting of the Joint Committee on the Review of Administrative Rules, which will include a public hearing followed by a meeting of the Executive Committee, will be held Monday at 10:00 am in Room 412 East Capitol.