Now We Know - Buckhorn Flats Game Farm Had 60 CWD Deer
Wisconsin Ag Connection - 03/06/2006
It appears that all the cards have been laid on the table for the very first game farm in Wisconsin to have Chronic Wasting Disease. The state's agriculture department announced on Friday that laboratory results from Buckhorn Flats Game Farm in Portage County show that 60 of its 76 animals tested positive for CWD. The herd, a mix of does and yearlings, was destroyed on January 17 for testing.
The farm, owned by Stan Hall, has been at the center of the CWD issue since the disease was first discovered in Wisconsin in 2002. At that time Hall's herd, and others that he sold animals to, were placed on quarantined and or had animals tested for the fatal deer disorder. But Buckhorn Flats had fought state officials' efforts to destroy his herd until this year.
The Buckhorn Flats property has now had a total of 82 CWD-positive animals over the past three and a half years. The property will undergo cleaning and disinfection when weather permits, and no species of deer or elk can be brought onto the property for five years.
Hall will receive state and federal indemnity payments for the 76 deer killed in the breeding pens. The amount of compensation, which is based on breeding age and trophy status, has not been finalized.
CWD has been found in 12 white-tailed deer and one elk on six other Wisconsin farms.