DNR officials present the latest on chronic waste disease
by Peter Jakey, Managing Editor
Tim Rice, northeast Michigan management unit supervisor from the Department of Natural Resources regional office in Gaylord answered many questions about the northern Michigan deer herd last Saturday at the Presque Isle Sportsman’s Club (PISC) of Rogers City, including the latest information on Chronic Wasting Disease (CWD). PISC conducts their annual meeting in January with the election of officers, a catered meal, but also tries to bring experts from the field to make presentations. This year, Rice and local conservation officer Rich Stowe from the DNR were on hand.
The positive test of a privately owned cervid in Kent County sent the DNR into scramble mode in 2008, banning baiting and feeding in the lower peninsula and placing more than 500 privately-owned deer facilities on quarantine.
RICE TOLD club members that 10,000 deer were tested last year and all of them came back with negative results.
“What that indicates is that there is no evidence that CWD has made its way into the free ranging deer or elk population, and for all intents and purposes, it appears to be confined to this one facility in Kent County,” said Rice.
The Michigan Department of Agriculture is trying to trace any animals that may have come from the facility. “The reason for the baiting and feeding ban in the lower peninsula is there are numerous counties throughout the lower peninsula, including Cheboygan County, that this facility in Kent County has done business with.? Rice said until MDA knows that there are no diseased animals at other facilities, or within the free ranging deer herd, the ban will remain in place for as long as two years or more.
When the 500 deer farms in the state were quarantined it created a tremendous economic hardship for the owners of the facilities, because they were not allowed to move live or dead animals from the premises, said Rice.
Some owners, who had sold hunts for as much as $10,000, had to tell unhappy clients they couldn?t take their animals with them. “CLIENTS WHO had purchased airline tickets, were told, you can shoot the deer or the elk, but it needs to stay on the premises,” said Rice. “Many of their clients didn’t find much interest in that.
“Both the MDA and DNR are serious about this. There is potential for this disease t
Earlier in Rice’s presentation he said the firearm deer season went well, with hunters seeing lots of deer and bucks. “It was very encouraging and I would like to think that the baiting and feeding ban had something to do with that,” he said. The number of deer taken was about the same as in 2007, although figures were down significantly in the upper peninsula.
Regarding bovine tuberculosis, more than 16,000 deer were tested during the recent firearm deer season, of which 13 tested positive for TB, with another 21 suspects. All but one came from the five county TB area, but it was in Iosco, just outside of the border. Saturday?s meeting at the clubhouse just outside of Rogers City included a delicious meal, short business meeting, raffles and awarding door prizes.