Update: DNR says 9-township deer cull 'can't wait'

MORLEY, MI -- A Michigan game ranch under investigation for the presence of Chronic Wasting Disease, a fatal wildlife contagion, obtained wild deer heads for mandatory state herd testing from a local meat processor, according to the Amish farmer who says he supplied the heads.

Henry Brenneman, an Amish farmer who butchers meat for hunters at his farm in Deerfield Township, told an MLive reporter that the ranch owner took "four or five" heads from his bone pile in December to submit for disease testing.

"He said, 'I need a few heads. I've got to send a few in to get tested. I'm behind in testing,'" Brenneman said. "He told me this was an easy fix."

Michigan wildlife and agriculture officials quarantined the ranch in late January after two of six heads submitted for (CWD) testing came back positive. The disease, spread by self-multiplying proteins, is a fatal contagion that affects white-tailed deer, mule deer, elk and moose.

Officials not authorized to speak on the record about an ongoing investigation confirmed that Brenneman's story is credible and investigators are using his hunting client records to discover where the processed deer were killed.

Disclosure that some or all of the tested heads may have actually come from wild, not captive deer, represents a surprising twist in the joint Department of Natural Resources (DNR) and Agriculture and Rural Development (MDARD) investigation into how a serious wildlife disease thus far only known to be present in wild deer around Lansing got into a fenced-in preserve several counties away.

The allegations come as the DNR is poised to deploy sharpshooters in the Morley area to kill wild deer around the ranch for CWD testing. The culling will take place on private property around the ranch and some landowners are concerned about the long-term impact the cull could have on the local deer herd.

Others in the conservation community fear that two diseased heads potentially showing up at the same processor -- who says he didn't butcher any deer from the Lansing area -- could mean CWD is more widely distributed throughout Michigan's wild deer population than officials have thus far confirmed.

The state is holding two meetings to discuss the CWD response. The first will take place at 7 p.m. on Feb. 1 at the Holiday Inn in Big Rapids. The second is scheduled for 6 p.m. on Feb. 22 at Morley Stanwood High School. The first meeting is geared toward deer farmers, of which there are more than a dozen in Mecosta County. The second is focused on hunters and property owners.

Because deer farms are regulated as livestock, MDARD, not the DNR, is in charge of investigating the ranch itself. State veterinarian James Averill, MDARD animal industry division director, characterized the joint investigation as two-pronged.

"Based on the stories we're hearing, we're trying to investigate this as if there's wild, free-ranging deer being positive in the area and there are deer behind the privately owned preserve operation being positive," Averill said.

"We're trying to fully vet out all those story lines sand find out what the truth is to the best of our ability."

Investigators have spoken to Brenneman and "though that conversation we've identified other things that were not happening per state law."

The rancher was required to submit six heads as part of his mandatory deer herd testing. Averill said the ranch owner claimed ownership of the heads that tested positive for CWD -- both from three-year-old females.

All game ranches in Michigan must conduct mandatory CWD testing. The head of any deer over 12 months old that dies of natural causes and 25 percent of hunted deer within the ranch fence must be submitted for testing. The total number of deer that must be tested varies on the size of the ranch. There are approximately 16,000 farmed deer and elk in 365 registered facilities throughout Michigan.

Herd testing does not involve a state employee visiting the ranch. Typically, Averill said deer heads are refrigerated and brought to a designated collection point, or farm owners work with a local veterinarian to collect brain samples for testing at Michigan State University.

Michigan law specifies fines up to $50,000 and up to a five-year jail sentence for someone convicted of a felony violation of the Animal Industry Act.

The ranch owner has not been charged with a crime. MLive is not identifying him because he has not been publicly identified by authorities, nor has he acknowledged submitting deer heads that were not his for testing.

When asked by phone about the allegations made by Brenneman, the ranch owner did acknowledge the ongoing investigation at his farm and referred comment to his attorney, who did not return several messages this week.

Brenneman said the ranch owner took "fresh heads" out of a bone pile that contained between 25 and 30 dead deer that were processed in December. He didn't record where the deer were killed, but thinks that only "a few" were shot in the immediate local area around Morley. He butchered about 120 deer for customers from multiple Michigan counties during 2016.

He did not remember the exact date the heads were taken, saying it was between the end of rifle season and Christmas. Brenneman has been processing deer for about 12 years and has butchered numerous animals from the ranch before.

He said the ranch owner's request for heads surprised him.

"He kind of caught me," Brenneman said. "I was like, do I let him or not let him?"

As the ranch owner was putting heads in an empty dog food bag, Brenneman said the possibility of a disease crossed his mind, but he figured, "I guess that would be his problem." Had they not been taken, the heads would have been burned.

The MDARD food and dairy division shut down Brenneman's deer processing business after a Jan. 25 inspection because he was operating without a license, among other violations. Brenneman does not have refrigeration on site. Investigators took the remaining heads from the bone pile behind his processing shed and he is not yet allowed to clean it up.

Brenneman said the DNR seized his processing records on Jan. 20.

He is expecting some kind of punishment.

"I don't know what the fine is going to be but I'm sure there will be something."

Two potentially diseased deer at one processor worries Kent Syers, president of the United Deer Farmers of Michigan. He's eager to know where they were killed.

Brenneman said he did not process any deer from the Lansing area, where nine free-ranging deer have tested positive for the CWD since May 2015. The state has tested nearly 12,000 deer in a management zone there that includes Ingham, Clinton, Shiawassee, Eaton, and Ionia counties.

Depending on where the deer were shot, Syers said two CWD-positive deer on Brenneman's pile could indicate there are infected deer elsewhere in Michigan and the wild herd might have a higher infection rate than previously thought.

"Two out of six really scares me," Syers said.

Although there's no definitive proof that CWD can spread to humans, the Centers for Disease Control advises against consuming infected venison. Syers said that if the CWD-positive deer came from Brenneman's pile, then there is probably infected meat in someone's freezer or refrigerator right now.

Until the source investigation is complete, local property owners are worried about how many wild deer that U.S. Department of Agriculture sharpshooters are going to kill around Morley for testing and whether it's entirely justified.

A 2017 deer cull to test for Chronic Wasting Disease (CWD) will occur in Aetna, Deerfield, Hinton, Mecosta, Morton, Montcalm, Cato, Winfield and Reynolds townships in Mecosta and Montcalm counties.

Tom Rowland's family owns about 340 acres just east of the ranch. Rowland said he's had a tough time getting hard quota numbers from sharpshooters. He is letting them onto his property Thursday to take five deer for testing.

Rowland is worried that if the Mecosta County wild herd is culled too much, hunters from outside of the area will go elsewhere for upcoming seasons.

"Lets push the pause button until we know what's going on," he said.

Vic Havens, owner of Frank's Sporting Goods in Morley, said local hunters are bagging larger bucks now because they've purposefully avoided shooting younger male deer in past years to allow them time to grow.

There's some worry that a cull could nullify those efforts, he said.

Havens thinks some of the concern is overblown. Hunters still travel to CWD-positive states like Colorado and Wyoming to hunt, he said. Nonetheless, he said he "probably wouldn't" allow sharpshooters on his property right now.

"If they can prove this case came from Mecosta, I might feel differently."