Mark and Linda:
This showed up on the NY Times website.
Per
http://www.nytimes.com/2002/05/26/national/26DEER.html
Hunters Balk at Plan for Killing Infected Deer
By THE ASSOCIATED PRESS
WAUSAU, Wis., May 25 (AP) � When Wisconsin wildlife officials first asked hunters to kill hundreds of deer to test for a fatal brain disease found in southern Wisconsin, more than 600 people volunteered.
But now the state wants to destroy all the deer in a 361-square-mile area starting in June, and hunters are balking, saying the authorities are moving too fast.
"It has been nothing but panic, panic, panic," said Mark Kessenich, a hunter who owns 80 acres in the affected area west of Madison. "We are saying, `Slow down.' "
Other hunters say they support trying to eradicate chronic wasting disease in Wisconsin's herd of 1.6 million deer by killing animals in the infected area. But they will not hunt until fall, the traditional time.
The problem began in February when the state's Department of Natural Resources announced that three deer shot near Mount Horeb had tested positive for chronic wasting disease, a relative of mad cow disease in cattle. The disease is always fatal, but is not believed to be transmissible other than to deer or elk. There is no vaccine.
A special spring hunt was ordered to determine the extent of the disease. Hunters killed 516 deer in the Mount Horeb area; 15 were found to be infected. The natural resources department then announced its plan to kill nearly 15,000 deer in the area beginning in June.
That is when some hunters began questioning the plan. Deer hunting is steeped in tradition in Wisconsin. The hunting season draws nearly 700,000 enthusiasts and has provided both food and the chance for social get-togethers.
Finding the so-called mad deer disease jeopardizes all of that, even though the area where it was found represents only 1 percent of the state's hunting land
Since the discovery of the disease, the state has asked Congress for money to fight it, authorized state veterinary laboratories to be equipped to test for it and passed a plan to spend $4 million for the battle. State leaders also approved allowing the natural resources department to shoot deer from helicopters.
Some people have proposed a fence around the infected area, but Bob Manwell, a spokesman for the department, said too much land was privately held for that to be feasible.
Title: FW: Hunters Balk at Plan for Killing Infected Deer
