Deer Farm Industry in Michigan Issues Statement on the Negative CWD Test Results at Kent County...( HILLMAN Mich. Sept. 5 /- When Mic...),Health

HILLMAN, Mich., Sept. 5 /PRNewswire/ -- When Michigan's first chronic wasting disease case was diagnosed in a whitetail deer at a deer farm in Kent County, state and federal officials shot and killed the remaining deer on the farmer's property and began the process of testing them for CWD. The deer farm industry is issuing the following statement on the negative CWD test results on the rest of the herd at the Kent County Farm.

The deer farm industry today received welcome news when the Department of Agriculture released the negative CWD test results from tested herd at the location of Michigan's first CWD case. These tests are a clear illustration of the effectiveness of Michigan's protocols to handle a chronic wasting disease case. The swift and decisive response to this crisis appears to be working the way our industry, DNR, and MDA envisioned when the state's CWD policies were originally crafted.

The Cervid Farmers of Michigan, Michigan Deer and Elk Breeders Association, North American Deer Farmers Association and regulatory state agencies have long been committed to testing. Because of their commitment to testing, not only was a CWD case identified, it also apparently was contained.

We remain hopeful that after the investigation of this incident, there will be a decisive conclusion about how a deer contracted CWD. Since 2002, it has been illegal to import deer from out of state. The affected farm was in compliance with the law, which makes investigating this incident even more challenging.

We do not wish for any disease to be spread to a new area. Unfortunately, there are more questions than answers when it comes to CWD. We do not know with any degree of certainty the disease's origins and if it is likely spread through farms, free ranging deer or carcass transportation and nothing proves this more than the recent incident. The fact that the disease did not spread to other deer on the farm challenges almost everything anyone kn
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