Rapidly growing numbers of cases of chronic wasting disease are appearing on deer and elk farms and hunting ranches in Wisconsin at the same time the state has pulled back on rules and procedures designed to limit the spread of the fatal brain disease among its captive and wild deer, Wisconsin Public Radio has reported.
In 2013, the Department of Agriculture, Trade and Consumer Protection began to let some captive deer facilities with infected animals continue operating. Since then, additional cases of CWD have developed within those facilities, according to WPR interviews and documents obtained under the state’s public records law.
