MADISON, Wis. — Federal authorities have destroyed a Burnett County game farm's deer herd after one of the animals tested positive for chronic wasting disease.
State agriculture officials announced Thursday that the U.S. Department of Agriculture Wildlife Services destroyed 14 deer at Schultz Whitetails on March 3. The move came after a four-year-old buck on the farm tested positive for CWD in October. State agriculture officials immediately quarantined all animals on the farm, meaning no live animals or whole carcasses were permitted to leave the property.
Tests conducted after the herd was destroyed showed no other animals were infected. The farmer owner will receive federal reimbursement for his lost herd on the condition that the farm not hold any cervids for five years. The farm also must maintain its fences and submit to routine inspections during that time.
CWD attacks cervids' brains, causing them to grow thin, act strangely and die.