The location of the deer was not disclosed.

Along with the ban of baiting and feeding deer, hunters in all of western Michigan’s Kent County’s townships will be required to have their deer examined at a Department of Natural Resources, or DNR, check station. Captive cervid facilities are quarantined and transportation of deer between the facilities is also banned.

The deer, raised at a captive cervid farm, was intended to be sold to a game ranch. Infected animals, which can include white-tailed deer, elk and moose, display abnormal behaviors, physical debilitation and intense weight loss.

Dave Nyberg, resource policy specialist for Michigan United Conservation Clubs hopes wild deer won’t be found carrying the disease.

The disease is transmitted through proteins in saliva and other fluids. Humans are said not to be affected by the illness.

Dairy production sophomore Eric Carson, who has been hunting since he was 14, said he was shocked by the DNR’s action.

“I was kind of surprised they found something, and I thought it was sort of weird that they woud ban it all,” he said.

Soil also can remain a hotbed for infections for prolonged periods of time — causing bait piles to be a key source of disease.

But fisheries and wildlife sophomore Coree Brooks doesn’t think baiting is as volatile as the DNR wants people to believe.

“It’s not passed through the air, it’s direct contact, and you don’t usually get that feeding animals,” he said. “One’s not going to sneeze on another one, per se, and then transport it.”

Since CWD is a neurological disease, only dead specimens can be tested. Because of this, the DNR planned to kill and test 300 Michigan deer by the end of hunting season — Jan. 1.

In 2005, Wisconsin spent about $32 million to combat a CWD problem. Since 2002, hunting license sales have decreased by 10 percent in the state.

Michigan farmers who grow or sell bait will be negatively impacted by the ban, Nyberg said. The state’s $500 million hunting industry is fueled by more than one million hunters.

“Deer hunters contribute money and resources. If CWD is found in wild deer herds in Michigan, it’s going to have a pretty tragic result,” Nyberg said.