(WFRV) – The Wisconsin Department of Natural Resources (DNR) has confirmed positive test results for chronic wasting disease (CWD) in wild deer in several Wisconsin counties.

The DNR confirmed a positive test for CWD in Polk County and in Trempealeau County. The deer in Polk County was harvested in the town of Apple River, which is within ten miles of Barron County, and the deer was harvested in the town of Hale.

As a result, Polk County will begin a three-year baiting and feeding ban on December 1, and since Apple River is close to Barron County, they will renew the ban already put in place.

As for Trempealeau County, they will have to renew their baiting and feeding ban alongside Jackson County, which is located near where the deer was harvested.

Eau Claire County also currently has a baiting and feeding ban in place for positive detections within the county. This detection does not renew the ban in Eau Claire because it is longer than the two-year ban that would result from this detection.

Both deer found in Polk and Trempeauleau County were three-year-olds and are the first confirmed deer with CWD in their respective counties.

Wisconsin state law requires that the DNR enact a three-year baiting and feeding ban in counties where CWD has been detected, as well as a two-year ban in adjoining counties within 10 miles of a CWD detection. If additional CWD cases are found during the lifetime of a baiting and feeding ban, the ban will renew for an additional two or three years.

The DNR also reminds the public that it is illegal to hunt over an area previously used for legal baiting and feeding until that area is completely free of bait or feed for ten consecutive days.

Baiting or feeding deer encourages them to congregate unnaturally around a shared food source where infected deer can spread CWD through direct contact with healthy deer or indirectly by leaving behind infectious prions in their saliva, blood, feces, and urine.

For more information about CWD, you can visit the Wisconsin Department of Natural Resources website here.