DNR deer testing 08_dn

Mark MacKay, wildlife ecologist, tests local deer from Van Buren County for Chronic Wasting Disease at the Wolf Lake Fish Hatchery. (Daytona Niles/Kalamazoo Gazette)

(Daytona Niles)

CLINTON COUNTY, MI -- A fourth Michigan deer has tested positive for chronic wasting disease, a deadly neurological disease found in the state's free-ranging deer population for the first time this year.

A hunter brought the 1-year-old buck to a Michigan Department of Natural Resources check station during firearm season in Clinton County's Dewitt Township. The U.S. Department of Agriculture's National Veterinary Services Laboratory in Iowa confirmed the deer is positive for chronic wasting disease, the DNR said Friday, Dec. 11.

The deer was harvested within 10 miles of the Eaton County border. The DNR strongly encourages all hunters in Eaton County to voluntarily stop baiting and feeding, continue hunting and bring harvested deer to a DNR check station.

The DNR has established a Core CWD Area that consists of Lansing, Meridian, Williamstown, Delhi, Alaiedon and Wheatfield townships in Ingham County; DeWitt and Bath townships in Clinton County; and Woodhull Township in Shiawassee County. Mandatory checking of deer is required during hunting seasons and restrictions apply to the movement of carcasses and parts of deer taken.

Chronic wasting disease affects white-tailed deer, mule deer, elk and moose. It is transmitted by infectious, self-multiplying proteins in saliva and other body fluids. Animals can get the disease from direct exposure to fluids or environments contaminated by fluids of the diseased animal's carcass.

Some infected animals behave abnormally and suffer from progressive weight loss and physical debilitation. Deer can be infected for years without showing symptoms. There is no cure.

A total of 3,695 Michigan deer have been tested for chronic wasting disease this year. Prior to the Clinton County deer, the disease was found in three deer in Meridian Township: a 6-year-old female, a 2-year-old male and a 5-year-old female. Those infected animals were found less than a mile of one another and genetic testing showed they were related.

There is no evidence that chronic wasting disease presents a risk to humans. As a precaution, the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and the World Health Organization recommend that infected animals not be consumed as food by either humans or domestic animals.

The DNR provides updates about chronic wasting disease at mi.gov/cwd.