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(MDNR Report)
The Michigan DNR announced today that a second hunter-harvested deer in Montcalm County is suspected positive for chronic wasting disease.
A sample has been sent to the U.S. Department of AgricultureÃs National Veterinary Services Laboratory in Ames, Iowa, for confirmation. If confirmed positive, the 1.5-year-old buck, harvested in Sidney Township, would be the 11th free-ranging deer in Michigan found to have CWD.
"The fact that we already have another positive deer within Montcalm County is of major concern," said Dr. Kelly Straka, DNR state wildlife veterinarian. "We strongly recommend hunters who harvest deer in Montcalm County have their deer tested. Deer with CWD can look perfectly healthy even though they are infected."
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MDNR Report
State-Record Cisco Caught on Lake OttawaThe Michigan DNR confirmed a new state-record fish for cisco (formerly known as lake herring). This marks the second state-record fish caught in 2017.
The fish was caught Friday, June 9, at 10 a.m. by Michael Lemanski of Florence, Wisconsin, on Lake Ottawa in Iron County in the western Upper Peninsula. Lemanski was still-fishing with a homemade jig. The fish weighed 6.36 pounds and measured 21.8 inches.
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MDNR Report
Some 6,000 Stocked in Michigan Waters
The Michigan DNR and several partners released nearly 6,000 juvenile lake sturgeon into various public waters across the state this summer and fall in an effort to rehabilitate this culturally significant fish species.
The table below shows which agencies stocked fish, how many were stocked, and the date and location of each stocking effort.
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By BOB GWIZDZ
MDNR Report
Weirs: An Important DNR Tool to Manage Fisheries, Educate Public
Michigan is home to a tremendous Great Lakes sport fishery, which includes native lake trout, steelhead, brown trout and several varieties of salmon introduced to these freshwater inland seas in the 1960s or beforehand.
To maintain this fishery, the Michigan DNR relies on fish stocking with the help of eggs taken from spawning fish.
Steelhead (rainbow trout) and Chinook and coho salmon were introduced to the Great Lakes with fish stock taken from northern California in the case of steelhead, and from the Pacific Northwest for the salmon.
There, the fish were born in freshwater lakes and streams, then migrated to the saltwater of the Pacific Ocean, where they matured, before returning to spawn.
Once they were transplanted to Michigan, these fish continued to act on this instinct, but instead of migrating to salt water, they migrate to the Great Lakes.
Fish with this type of behavior are called anadromous fishes.
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MDNR Report
The Michigan DNR Wildlife Disease Laboratory and the Michigan State University Veterinary Diagnostic Laboratory today announced they have confirmed that a free-ranging white-tailed deer in Genesee County has died from epizootic hemorrhagic disease.
Flint, Mich. is in Genesee County.
EHD is a viral disease, sometimes fatal, found in wild ruminants such as white-tailed deer, mule deer and elk.
The disease is transmitted by a type of biting fly called a midge. Infection does not always result in the disease. Signs of illness within infected animals are highly variable, ranging from none at all to extensive internal bleeding and fluid accumulation. There is no evidence that humans can contract the EHD virus.
Illness can come on suddenly and severely, but also can linger for weeks or months in a low-grade state. In severe forms of the disease, deer lose their appetite and fear of humans, grow progressively weaker, salivate excessively and finally become unconscious. Due to a high fever and dehydration, infected deer often seek water to lower their body temperature and to rehydrate, and then are found sick or dead along or in bodies of water.