The Department of Natural Resources announced today that a Wildlife Order will be signed to give hunters replacement kill tags in the Chronic Wasting Disease (CWD) surveillance zone in Kent County if the deer they harvested appears to have a physical condition consistent with CWD. This is consistent with DNR policy in the northeastern Lower Peninsula for hunters who have harvested a deer that shows signs of bovine tuberculosis.

This regulation will take effect in the nine townships that make up the CWD surveillance zone in Kent County, which includes Tyrone, Solon, Nelson, Sparta, Algoma, Courtland, Alpine, Plainfield and Cannon. Hunters will be provided with a replacement kill tag when the entire carcass is collected by the DNR for CWD testing, which is consistent with current actions for carcasses collected for TB testing. Hunters can then use the replacement kill tag to harvest another deer. Hunters can also retain the antlers or antlers attached to a skull cap cleaned of all brain and muscle tissue from the surrendered animal.

On Aug. 25, the DNR and the Michigan Department of Agriculture confirmed the state's first case of CWD in a three-year old doe at a private cervid facility in Kent County. CWD is a fatal neurological disease that affects deer, elk and moose. Infected animals display abnormal behaviors, loss of bodily functions and a progressive weight loss. Current evidence suggests that the disease is transmitted through infectious, self-multiplying proteins (prions). Prions are normal cell proteins whose shape has been transformed, causing CWD. The disease is transmitted by exposure to saliva of infected animals. Susceptible animals can also acquire CWD by eating feces from an infected animal, or soil contaminated by them. Once contaminated, soil can remain a source of infection for many years, making CWD a particularly difficult disease to manage.

DNR officials remind citizens that, to date, there is no evidence that CWD poses a risk to humans, nor has there been verified evidence that the disease can be transmitted to humans. More information about CWD is available on the State of Michigan's Emerging Diseases Web site at www.michigan.gov/chronicwastingdisease.