MADISON, Wis. (AP) - The Latest on chronic wasting disease in Wisconsin (all times local):
12:20 p.m.
An influential group of sportsmen says the state Department of Natural Resources needs to better educate people about chronic wasting disease.
The suggestion was among a set of recommendations the Conservation Congress unveiled Tuesday at a news conference with the department highlighting efforts to deal with the disease as the fall deer hunting seasons approach.
The congress says every DNR employee that has contact with the public should be given a CWD brochure to hand out to people. The congress says the brochure also should be given out with every license sold.
The congress says the DNR also needs to streamline its website so CWD information is readily accessible. The group also called on the DNR to place more dumpsters on the landscape to make it easier for hunters to dispose of carcasses and expand the number of unmanned kiosks across the state where hunters can drop off tissue samples from their kills for testing.
DNR Wildlife Management Bureau Acting Director Tami Ryan says the department will take the recommendations under consideration.
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12 p.m.
The state Department of Natural Resources has ordered hunters in a half-dozen northwestern Wisconsin townships to submit deer they kill this fall for chronic wasting disease tests.
DNR Wildlife Management Bureau Acting Director Tami Ryan announced the order during a news conference Tuesday to highlight CWD as the fall hunting seasons approach.
She said the order comes in response to three infected deer identified in Eau Claire County last year. After the news conference she said citizen deer advisory councils in surrounding counties formed a committee in response to the infections and recommended the DNR implement the mandatory testing order.
Ryan says the order was issued last week and applies to the nine-day gun season in townships in Eau Claire, Dunn and Pepin counties. She says the department will be doing in-person sample collections in the area. Typically hunters must drop tissue from their deer off at unmanned DNR kiosks for testing.
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8:30 a.m.
The state Department of Natural Resources plans to brief reporters on its efforts to monitor chronic wasting disease as the fall deer hunting seasons approach.
Deputy DNR Secretary Todd Ambs and Wisconsin Conservation Congress Chairman Larry Bonde both are scheduled to speak during the presentation Tuesday morning. DNR board member Greg Kazmierski and DNR Bureau of Wildlife Management Acting Director Tami Ryan also are expected to speak.
They plan to provide updates on disease surveillance, efforts to help hunters submit samples and dispose of deer carcasses and baiting and feeding regulations.
Gov. Tony Evers has offered no new strategies for dealing with the disease. DNR Secretary Preston Cole says the governor is waiting to see if research being conducted in other states turns up anything new.
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