MOUNT HOREB, Wis., Oct. 24 (UPI) -- State officials Thursday investigated the escape of several deer from a farm quarantined because at least one of its animals suffered from brain-destroying chronic wasting disease.
The Department of Natural Resources said the escape occurred in March from a farm owned by James Hirschboeck, who is under investigation for allegedly trying to sell deer from his quarantined herd and entice another deer farmer to falsify records. Hirschboeck has denied any wrongdoing.
Game warden Karl Brooks said several deer escaped from the farm shortly after the first reported case of chronic wasting disease turned up in wild deer. The escaped deer all have ear tags and have been cited by neighbors.
Forty wild deer have tested positive for the disease, which is related to mad cow in cattle, scrapie in sheep and Creutzfeld-Jakob in humans. All are related to prions, misshapen proteins that attack the central nervous system and cause sponge-like holes in the brain. So far, researchers have not been able to determine how chronic wasting disease is spread and whether meat from infected animals is safe to eat.
State officials hope CWD is confined to a 411-square-mile area and want 25,000 deer taken from the area during the current hunting season.
The DNR had hoped a southeastern Minnesota fur company would store deer carcasses from the diseased area until authorities can determine whether they are infected, but a judge issued an order Tuesday preventing shipment of the carcasses to Minnesota. State law prohibits transportation of deer or elk from diseased areas.
The company, Wiebke Produce Inc., of Eitzen, said it now plans to store the carcasses at its facility in Eau Claire, Wis.
Chronic wasting disease was first identified in Colorado in 1967. It also has been confirmed in Kansas, Montana, Nebraska, New Mexico, Okalahoma, South Dakota and Wyoming, and the Canadian provinces of Alberta and Saskatchewan.
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(Reported by Marcella S. Kreiter, UPI Chicago bureau)
