Antigo deer farm depopulated due to CWD
Taylor County facility likely next to face fate
A Langlade County deer farm infected with chronic wasting disease was depopulated last week, the first such action at a CWD-positive Wisconsin facility in more than a year, according to the Department of Trade, Agriculture and Consumer Protection.
The cull, performed May 18 by sharpshooters, removed the approximately 50 deer remaining at Van Ooyen Whitetails in Antigo, said Laurie Seale, vicepresident of Whitetails of Wisconsin, an association of the state’s licensed deer farmers.
Chronic wasting disease was discovered Aug. 13, 2021, at the facility when a 1-year-old doe tested positive for the fatal neurological disease. The farm had previously been placed under quarantine because it received a shipment of deer from a CWD-positive facility.
Indemnity payment to Van Ooyen will be made from federal funds, according to DATCP. The amount was not disclosed.
Federal indemnity is based on 95% of appraised value not to exceed $3,000 per animal.
Nineteen other CWD-positive deer farms remain open in Wisconsin, according to DATCP records.
Wisconsin has 301 registered deer farms and 39 are CWD-positive, according to state data. Twenty-two, or 56%, have been found to be CWD-positive in the last four years.
Regulations, enforcement and technology are failing to prevent the spread of CWD in both the deer farming industry and the wild deer herd.
That poses a concern among deer farmers, who face quarantines and loss of business, as well as Department of Natural Resources managers and biologists and many wildlife advocates.
Chronic wasting disease is a fatal neurological disease of deer, elk and moose caused by an infectious protein called a prion that affects the animal’s brain. Testing for CWD is typically performed after an animal’s death.
DATCP regulates deer farms for registration, record keeping, disease testing, animal movement and permit requirements.
The disease has not been found to cause illness in livestock or humans. However, health officials do not recommend humans consume meat from a CWD-positive animal.
Since being found in Colorado in the 1960s, CWD has been documented in 30 states and several foreign countries, according to the National Wildlife Health Center of the U.S. Geological Survey. The disease was detected in Wisconsin in wild and captive deer in 2002.
The disease was found at eight more Wisconsin captive deer facilities – in Eau Claire, Langlade, Outagamie, Portage, Sauk, Taylor, Vilas and Waukesha counties – in 2021 alone, according to DATCP reports. Two more, in Walworth and Waukesha counties, have been added so far this year.
Including Van Ooyen Whitetails, twenty of the 39 have been depopulated and indemnity paid to the owners.
The largest deer farm depopulation in recent years occurred in November 2015 when 228 animals were killed at Fairchild Whitetails in southeastern Eau Claire County. More than two dozen deer tested positive for CWD at the site.
The state paid Fairchild Whitetails $298,000 in indemnity.
An even larger depopulation is looming, however, at Maple Hill Farms near Gilman in Taylor County. The facility, owned by WOW vice-president Laurie Seale, is holding about 300 deer.
And fawns are expected to be born any day, which could add substantially to the number of deer to be killed.
Chronic wasting disease was discovered at Maple Hills last July and discussions between Seale and DATCP and U.S Department of Agriculture officials have been taking place for months.
“We continue working toward depopulation in Taylor County, but details are still being worked out with USDA,” said DATCP public information officer Kevin Hoffman.
The cost of the Maple Hills depopulation, whether paid from the state or federal treasury, will likely exceed the $298,000 paid in the 2015 Eau Claire County case.
It’s not clear if DATCP or USDA is in line to pay the indemnity. Both have limited budgets for such payments.
Wisconsin statute allows for indemnity for condemned animals at 2/3 the difference between net salvage value and appraised value of the animal, not to exceed $1,500.
Seale said Tuesday she was negotiating to have her animals put down by injection instead of sharpshooters.
“I am fighting to make this as humane as possible,” Seale said. “I’ve been sitting here for 9 months waiting for them to depopulate my herd. This should have been taken care of months ago.”
Meanwhile, the spread of CWD continues. The disease was detected at eight other Wisconsin deer farms since it was found at Maple Hills in July.
CALENDAR
Tuesday
End of sixth and final spring turkey period.
Saturday-June 5
Free fishing weekend in Wisconsin.
June 16
Yellow perch season opens on Lake Michigan.
Sept. 17
Deer bow and crossbow seasons open.