From: Julee Hasbany [mailto:hasbanyj@STATE.MI.US]
Sent: Thursday, January 20, 2000 4:47 PM
To: DNRWIRE@LISTSERV.CNOC.STATE.MI.US
Subject: MECOSTA COUNTY DEER TESTS POSITIVE
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE, 20 JAN 00
CONTACT: Tim Roby, 517-373-1214
Mecosta County Deer Tests Positive
LANSING--A wild deer from Mecosta County has been determined by the Michigan Department of Community Health Laboratory to be culture positive for bovine tuberculosis, Michigan Department of Natural Resources (DNR) Veterinarian Dr. Stephen Schmitt said today. This is the second wild deer to be found positive for the disease outside of the Movement Restriction Zone, the area in Northeastern Michigan bounded by I-75, M-55 and Lake Huron.
In response to finding TB-positive deer in Antrim and Mecosta Counties, DNR will conduct even greater surveillance in a 5-mile and a 25-mile radius around the positive deer with the continued assistance of hunters and others. In addition, surveillance for tuberculosis in wild deer will also be increased statewide for the year 2000.
"The finding of positive deer outside Northeast Michigan substantiates the effectiveness of our surveillance plans," Dr. Schmitt said.
The TB-positive status of the Mecosta deer has been anticipated since mid-December, according to State Veterinarian Dr. Mike Chaddock of the Michigan Department of Agriculture. MDA already has stepped up surveillance activities in the area.
"Although the Mecosta deer is the second TB-positive deer outside the quarantined area of Northeast Michigan, there will be no immediate change in the bovine TB testing program or the boundaries of the quarantine," Dr. Chaddock said. "Our staff has already begun to identify all cattle, bison, goats, livestock and captive deer and elk within a 10-mile radius of the Mecosta County deer. We will continue to work with the livestock industry to provide information and whole-herd testing in that area, to assess whether the deer finding has parallels in the livestock."
Test results of one additional TB-suspect deer in Osceola County are expected in the next few weeks. The US Department of Agriculture is planning to review Michigan's bovine TB program in February. Information from that review will be the basis for determining any change in Michigan's bovine TB status.
###
To remove your name from this e-mail list, send an e-mail message from
your own e-mail address to listserv@listserv.cnoc.state.mi.us
with this in the body of your message:
signoff dnrwire
To get back on the list, send an e-mail message from your own e-mail
address to listserv@cnoc.state.mi.us
with this in the body of your message:
subscribe dnrwire your name (Use
an alias, if you prefer.)
There's also an electronic
form on the DNR home page at