Positive chronic wasting test leads to 3-year baiting ban in La Crosse County

(The Center Square) – Chronic wasting disease was found in a wild deer in La Crosse County during the state’s annual gun-hunting season, meaning there will now be a two-year baiting ban in the county.

The Wisconsin Department of Natural Resources collects samples each year to detect the disease, which is a fatal, infectious nervous system ailment. The disease can be transmitted through deer-to-deer contact.

Baiting and feeding causes deer to unnaturally group together and a shared food source can lead to the spread of the disease through saliva, blood, feces and urine.

La Crosse County was already under a two-year baiting and feeding ban, which will now go for three years.

Monroe and Vernon counties currently have a three-year baiting and feeding bans in place due to separate positive tests.

The Wisconsin DNR began its program of monitoring the white-tailed deer population in 1999 and the first positive tests appeared in 2002.

The DNR set...