DNR Confirms CWD In Wild Deer In Manitowoc County

MANITOWOC, WI- (WGBW) – The Wisconsin Department of Natural Resources (DNR) confirms the first positive test result for chronic wasting disease (CWD) in a wild deer in Manitowoc County.

A hunter harvested a 1-year-old buck with CWD south of the Valders area, within 10 miles of the Calumet and Sheboygan county borders. As a result of this new detection, a state-authorized baiting and feeding ban will go into effect for Manitowoc County on Feb. 1, 2025.

The following actions will be taken:

• Manitowoc County will have a new state-authorized three-year baiting and feeding ban. However, the county has a longstanding local ordinance prohibiting the feeding of deer.
• Calumet County will renew a two-year baiting and feeding ban that is already in place.
• Sheboygan County currently has a three-year baiting and feeding ban in place for positive detections within the county, so this detection will not impact Sheboygan County.

The DNR and the Manitowoc County Deer Advisory Council are hosting a public meeting on Feb. 4, 2025 at 6 p.m. At the meeting, DNR staff will provide information about CWD in Wisconsin and local testing efforts within Manitowoc County.

What is CWD?

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 DNR began monitoring the state’s wild white-tailed deer population for CWD in 1999. The first positives were found in 2002.

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.

Baiting or feeding deer encourages them to congregate unnaturally around a shared food source where infected deer can spread chronic wasting disease through direct contact with healthy deer or indirectly by leaving behind infectious prions in their saliva, blood, feces and urine. More information regarding baiting and feeding regulations is available on the DNR’s Baiting and Feeding webpage.

Find more general information about chronic wasting disease at the DNR’s CWD webpage.

MEETING DETAILS

What: Public Meeting On CWD In Wisconsin And Manitowoc County Testing Efforts
When: Feb. 4, 2025, at 6 p.m.
Where: Woodland Dunes Nature Center
3000 Hawthorne Ave.
Two Rivers, WI 54241