Department of Natural Resources Launching Deer Predator Study
17 Nov 2016
This fall, wildlife officials in Wisconsin state plan on launching a five-year study that they hope will provide revolutionary information on how deer survival in southwestern Wisconsin is affected by chronic wasting disease, as well as by predators.
The study by the Department of Natural Resources (DNR) will initially involve capturing deer predators, like coyotes and bobcats, and fitting radio collars equipped with GPS tracking devices to the animals. The agency will then begin the process of capturing, and fitting collars to deer in January, 2017.
The GPS tracking study should show in-depth information on habitat use, movement, behavior, and predator-prey survival, with the collars being able to record and display pertinent information at various points per day.
Plans are to collar 200 adult does and bucks, 100 fawns, and 60 natural predators on an annual basis. The information collated will assist DNR scientists in gaining an improved understanding on how chronic wasting disease is potentially interacting with predators, and could therefore be affecting deer survival.
Chronic wasting disease is always fatal in deer, and was first discovered in Wisconsin, back in 2002, in the region of Mount Horeb. The disease that causes the brains of deer to thin, and for the animals to then begin acting bizarrely, was initially attempted to be contained by the DNR through the culling of a large number of the animals. This plan resulted in a huge public backlash, so the Agency reneged on this plan.
DNR current strategy involves the reduction of local herds living in isolated infection areas that are far away from any known disease clusters. The main focus is, however, on the monitoring of the spread of the disease.
Worryingly, the disease has now moved into 41 of the 72 states in Wisconsin. Back in March, 2016, test results were released that illustrated the highest rate of prevalence since the discovery of the disease in the state. A total of 9.4 percent of the 3,133 deer that were tested in 2015 were found to be infected.
A series of initiatives were announced by Gov. Scott Walker in May, as well as state agriculture officials being ordered to create best practices for deer farms. Gov. Walker also ordered the DNR to inspects fences on deer farms on a biennial basis.
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