MADISON, WI (AP)-- A wildlife expert says a Republican bill aimed at allowing Wisconsin residents to feed deer may have fatal implications for the animals.
The bill would allow counties with chronic wasting disease to resume baiting and feeding the animals after three years if no new cases turn up. Current state law prohibits baiting and feeding in counties where infected deer are found as well as in adjacent counties indefinitely. Thirty-five counties have bans.
Timothy Van Deelen, a University of Wisconsin-Madison wildlife professor, says baiting and feeding can spread chronic wasting disease and lifting the bans could be deadly for the herd.
But the bill's author, Rep. Adam Jarchow, a Balsam Lake Republican, said his constituents in northwestern Wisconsin can't enjoy feeding and watching deer under current statutes.