MADISON, WI (AP)-- Democrats on the Assembly's natural resources committee are demanding state wildlife officials do more to stop chronic wasting disease.
Department of Natural Resources Wildlife Health Section Chief Tami Ryan told the committee Wednesday during an update on the disease that the agency is now essentially monitoring the disease but it's continuing to spread. She told the committee that the agency has no public support for the herd reduction strategy the DNR employed in the first years after the disease was discovered in Wisconsin.
Committee Democrats demanded the DNR take a tougher stand against the disease, questioning whether public or special interest groups didn't support herd reduction. Rep. Fred Clark, a Baraboo Democrat, said he's afraid the agency is "fiddling while Rome burns."