WOLF RIVER, Wis. (WFRV) – The Wisconsin Department of Natural Resources (DNR) has confirmed another case of chronic wasting disease (CWD) in northern Wisconsin.

According to a release, the deer was hunter-harvested in the Town of Wolf River, Langlade County. It is the first confirmed wild deer CWD-positive detected in Langlade County.

As required by Wisconsin state law, the Department of Natural Resources will enact a three-year baiting and feeding ban in Langlade County. In addition, a two-year feeding and baiting ban will be enacted in Menominee County, which neighbors Langlade County.

Oconto Coutny is also within ten miles of the harvested location but is already under a three-year baiting and feeding ban due to CWD detections within the county.

CWD is a fatal, infectious nervous system disease of deer, moose, elk and reindeer/caribou. It belongs to the family of diseases known as transmissible spongiform encephalopathies (TSEs) or prion diseases. The Wisconsin DNR began monitoring the state’s wild white-tailed deer population for CWD in 1999. The first positives were found in 2002.

Since the deer was harvested in close proximity to the Menominee Reservation, the Menominee Tribal Government has its own baiting ban within the exterior boundaries of the Reservation. The DNR is cooperating and working with the tribe regarding bans in the area.

Baiting and feeding deer encourages them to congregate unnaturally around a shared food source, where a CWD-positive deer can spread the disease through direct contact with a healthy deer. The CWD-positive deer could also leave behind infectious prions in their saliva, blood, feces, and urine.

For additional information about chronic wasting disease, you can visit the Wisconsin Department of Natural Resources website here.