LANSING, Mich. — State animal health officials have confirmed chronic wasting disease in a farmed cervid in Hillsdale County, a find that comes just weeks before Michigan’s firearm deer season opens and as the DNR steps up statewide testing.
Michigan’s agriculture department, known as MDARD, announced the detection, saying it was caught through the state’s routine surveillance program for farmed deer and elk herds. The department said it is investigating to make sure no other farmed animals were exposed.
Hillsdale County joins a list of places where the disease has already turned up on Michigan farms. Farmed herds in eight other counties had earlier cases: Kent, Calhoun, Montcalm, Mecosta, Lake, Newaygo, Osceola and Mackinac.
Chronic wasting disease is a fatal illness of the brain and nervous system that strikes members of the deer family, from white-tailed and mule deer to elk and moose. It is spread by a misfolded protein known as a prion, which can pass directly between animals or linger in the environment where another deer can pick it up. There is no treatment. Infected animals can look normal for months or even years before they grow thin, act strangely and lose condition.
In its announcement, State Veterinarian Dr. Nora Wineland credited early detection to regular testing and said work with herd owners, their veterinarians and federal partners is key to managing the disease over time.
No human infections have ever been reported. Even so, both the CDC and the World Health Organization recommend that people and pets never eat meat from an animal known to carry it, and wildlife officials urge hunters not to eat any deer that looked sick. The disease has been reported in at least 36 states since the 1960s.
With firearm season approaching, the Michigan Department of Natural Resources is asking hunters in targeted areas to bring deer heads to staffed check stations or leave them in drop boxes for testing. The agency also wants reports of any deer that appears sick or is found dead without an obvious cause. Warning signs include a deer that is very thin and unusually easy to approach.
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