Testing for Chronic Wasting Disease during the 2024 hunting seasons turned up some new positive cases in the Northwoods.
In Oneida County, three additional positives were detected in the eastern part of the county.
Vilas County had its second case of Chronic Wasting detected in a wild deer, as did Polk County.
In total, 17,399 deer were sampled throughout the state during the 2024 CWD year, with close to 1,800 samples testing positive.
Most of those were in the Southern Farmland Zone.
“Although we have detected CWD in new areas of the state in recent years, many of these areas are at a low prevalence rate, and opportunities still remain to slow the spread and growth of the disease statewide,” said Erin Larson, DNR deer herd health specialist.
The DNR reminds the public that there have been no reported cases of CWD infection in humans.
However, public health officials recommend against consuming meat from deer that test positive for CWD and to consider testing deer prior to consumption, especially in areas prevalent with CWD.
Additional details on these detections can be found on the CWD interactive map and CWD results page, which includes summaries by county and township.
