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MADISON, Wis. —(AP)— Hunters have killed the first wild deer this fall infected with chronic wasting disease, making them eligible for new cash rewards, state wildlife officials said. Five deer killed in the disease eradication zone surrounding Mount Horeb have tested positive so far, the Department of Natural Resources said last week. Three were shot by archery hunters. The other two were killed by DNR personnel after local residents reported a sick-looking deer, the agency said. The deer were a yearling buck, a two year-old buck, a yearling doe and two four to five year-old does, the DNR said. Archery hunting began Sept. 13. This fall the DNR is offering $250,000 in what it calls reward money as an incentive to get more landowners to participate in efforts to kill all deer in the eradication zone. A hunter who shoots a deer with the disease gets $200, and the landowner where the deer was killed gets $200. If the program has any leftover money after hunting in the zone ends Jan. 3, the DNR intends to pay $20 for each healthy deer killed. Since chronic wasting disease was first confirmed in Wisconsin deer in February 2002, the DNR has implemented a management strategy that calls for reducing deer populations in about 1150 square miles surrounding Mount Horeb, where the disease was detected. The incurable disease, which causes deer to become thin, act abnormally and die, threatens Wisconsin's $1 billion a year hunting industry. The DNR said 204 deer killed in the zone last year had the disease. |
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