May 19, 2013
Head of the state Department of Natural Resources Scott Hassett says the state is expanding its testing for deer with chronic wasting disease.
The DNR has contained the known boundaries of the outbreak in an area that's about 12 miles by ten miles in a core area west of Madison. But Hassett says testing will now expand all the way to northeastern Wisconsin as part of a strategy to aggressively track the disease.
Hassett says testing and eradication efforts are working. He estimates that there are 40% fewer infected deer over the last three years.
The disease causes infected animals to lose bodily function, behave abnormally, become emaciated and die. Studies have shown that the disease spreads from animal to animal, most likely through infectious proteins in the soil.
