Hudson Lake Access Hopes in Doubt

Details

Published: 01 June 2015

By Louie Stout

Brandon Demitruk has been checking his mailbox daily for more than a month now.

Still no answer from the Indiana DNR.

Demitruk is vice president of the P.N.A. Fisherman’s Club in South Bend. In late March, he wrote a letter to the DNR urging them to consider buying available property on Hudson Lake northwest of South Bend and make it a public access.

The Michiana Walleye Club signed on, too.

The 400-acre lake is a good fishing lake within a short drive of South Bend and LaPorte, but access has been limited.

Until now, the only boat launch lies on the property for sale. It’s there where anglers have paid a small fee to launch their boats for several years.

But the landowner has the site for sale. The state could buy the four acres for $200,000.

Read more …

Michigan Confirms State’s First Case of Chronic Wasting Disease in Deer

Details

Published: 26 May 2015

Michigan confirms state’s first case of chronic wasting disease in deer

The Michigan DNR and Agriculture and Rural Development confirmed that a free-ranging deer in Meridian Township (Ingham County) has tested positive for chronic wasting disease (CWD), a fatal neurological disease that affects white-tailed deer, mule deer, elk and moose.

Ingham County is located southeast of Lansing.

This is the first time the disease has been found in Michigan's free-ranging deer population. In 2008 a white-tailed deer from a privately owned cervid (POC) facility in Kent County tested positive for CWD.

The animal was observed last month wandering around a Meridian Township residence and showing signs of illness. The homeowner contacted the Meridian Township Police Department, who then sent an officer to euthanize the animal. The deer was collected by a DNR wildlife biologist and delivered for initial testing to the DNR Wildlife Disease Laboratory at the Michigan State University Diagnostic Center for Population and Animal Health in Lansing, Michigan. After initial tests were positive, samples were forwarded to the U.S. Department of Agricultureís National Veterinary Services Laboratory in Ames, Iowa, for final confirmation. The Michigan DNR received that positive confirmation last week.

Read more …