December 16, 2003 - State officials today announced that a deer harvested near the South Branch of the AuSable River in Roscommon County during the 2003 hunting season has tested positive for bovine tuberculosis (TB). As a result and according to the state’s TB eradication protocol, the Michigan Department of Agriculture (MDA) has designated any cattle, goat and bison farms within a 10-mile radius of the deer to be in a "Potential High Risk Area."

According to MDA State Veterinarian Dr. Joan Arnoldi, a Potential High Risk Area is a 10-mile radius around a TB positive, wild free-ranging deer or elk. Such a designation basically requires any producers within this circle to undergo a whole herd test within six months of the establishment of the area. In this case, small portions of Crawford and Ogemaw counties are also included, though there are only about 20 farms in the entire designation area and the majority of property is state or federal land. A portion of the circle also extends into Oscoda County, but because the county is already designated as "High Risk" it won’t change the area’s testing requirements.

"This designation is routine and part of our thorough and stringent TB eradication protocol to take every precaution that herds in a potentially affected area are TB-free," Arnoldi said.

Arnoldi further explained that Roscommon County is part of the state’s TB "Disease Free (buffer) Zone," where two whole herd tests were required before the end of 2003. The other two counties are located in the state’s TB "Surveillance Zone," which means that herds in these counties are to undergo whole herd tests every two years. As such, the testing requirement may be waived for producers who have had their herd tested within the last six months.

Area producers will be notified by MDA via mail or visit if they must test. Those with questions may contact the MDA Atlanta regional office toll-free at 888/565-8626.

Since testing efforts began, MDA has tested nearly all Michigan herds of cattle, goats, bison and privately owned cervids statewide to date, just under 864,000 animals. Thirty-two herds have been diagnosed as TB positive. The DNR has examined 121,645 free ranging, white-tailed deer for the disease, with 465 of those examined being identified as TB positive; only 16 in 2003 to date.

The Bovine TB Eradication Project is a multi-agency team of experts from the Michigan Departments of Agriculture, Community Health, and Natural Resources; Michigan State University; and the U.S. Department of Agriculture. It continues to work collaboratively and aggressively to eradicate the disease from Michigan.

Click here to see a map of the 10-mile buffer zone (document is an Adobe PDF file and is 380kb in size).