The Associated Press | August 14, 2002
A private laboratory near Milwaukee intends to test deer killed by hunters this fall for a fatal brain disease, even though it won't have federal certification.
"There is a private company that is going to do it," Natural Resources Board president Trygve Solberg told the rest of the board Wednesday.
He did not name the company. This week, the U.S. Department of Agriculture reaffirmed its position of not certifying any private labs to test for chronic wasting disease this fall, said Tom Hauge, the state Department of Natural Resources' wildlife manager.
"I haven't had any labs contact me regarding testing, irregardless of USDA," Hauge said. "There are a number of private facilities that are out there."
Tens of thousands of hunters are expected to want deer they kill this fall tested for the disease. Right now, the nation has only six federally approved labs to test for the disease, and the closest is in Ames, Iowa.
The USDA is expected to certify the Wisconsin Diagnostic Laboratory in Madison soon, but that lab will handle most of the 40,000 to 50,000 deer the DNR intends to test from samples collected in the state's 72 counties.
The DNR needs up to 1,000 workers to gather those samples Oct. 24-27 and Nov. 23-24, Hauge said.
He also told the board he expected hunters and sharpshooters to kill about the same number of deer in the special weeklong summer hunt that ends Friday - the third of four planned this summer.
There were 262 deer killed in June and 339 in July.
Meanwhile, a conservation group has unveiled an instructional video on processing deer in the wake of the discovery of chronic wasting disease in the state.
"There is a safe way to consume this venison," Roy Kalmerton, project chairman for the video produced by the Sheboygan County Conservation Association said.
Since the disease was discovered in Wisconsin, the state Department of Agriculture, Trade and Consumer Protection has recommended that hunters completely avoid the eyes, brain, spinal cord, spleen, tonsils and lymph nodes of any deer.
Tracy Messner, manager at Miesfeld's Market Inc., demonstrates in the video how to avoid those problem areas - including the hard-to-find lymph nodes.
The conservation association has produced 500 copies of the video as a public service. The group will market it to hunter education courses and to the general public.
The video will be sold for $10 at Miesfeld's Market and at the association's booth at the Ducks Unlimited Great Outdoors Festival Friday through Sunday on the Experimental Aircraft Association grounds in Oshkosh.
The video also is available to those who send a check or money order for $10 made out to the association to SCCA, 243 North Main, Cedar Grove 53013.The Associated Press:
