# Hunting preserve closure.



## east bay ed (Dec 18, 2002)

Has anyone heard anything about the closuer of the hunting opreserve in southwest Saginaw county?

I talked to a friend of mine who was in on the closure. He said it went public, but I still haven't seen anything.

I guess they had dead elk and deer as well as some kind of swine desease.


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## Ninja (Feb 20, 2005)

Here's a link to the Press Release.

http://www.michigan-sportsman.com/forum/showthread.php?t=234620


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## jwb (May 12, 2008)

The game ranch is located in Saginaw County near Meridian Road and M57. Four pigs were tested and confirmed positive for porcine pseudorabies. Pseudorabies is a viral disease most prevalent in swine, often causing newborn piglets to die. Older pigs can survive infection, becoming carriers of the pseudorabies virus for life. Other animals infected from swine die from pseudorabies, which is also known as Aujeszky's disease and &quot;mad itch.&quot; Infected cattle and sheep can first show signs of pseudorabies by scratching and biting themselves. In dogs and cats, pseudorabies can cause sudden death. The virus does not cause illness in humans.&quot; It can affect and cause sudden death in other species: cats, dog, horses, cattle, sheep, etc. There have been cases where bear and deer have succumbed from the disease. Michigan has been free (commercial farms)of the disease for quite a while. While humans are not affected, they can spread the disease with contact with infected feces, body fluids and bedding. Hog farmers within a 5 mile radius will have to have their animals tested. Should evidence of the disease be found outside the facility, this radius will probably be extended. Apparently these were feral pigs being raised on a commercial game farm which when inspected by MDH after they were notified, found additional pigs and some dead elk. This facility has apparently had problems in the past and there is some question as to the legitimacy of the elk WRT regulations. DNR and MDA were to have made an attempt to kill all the sport pigs at the facility and any wild ones in the area this past weekend. This state's ecology is not meant to handle wild pigs--not only for the disease potential, but also the economic damage that they can cause. These animals have numerous litters a year and no natural predators to keep the population in check. Fencing them in in game ranches is not a solution as fences are so easily subject to damage such that they can escape.


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## Ninja (Feb 20, 2005)

JWB,
Apparently, some of your info is correct, as it was copied-and-pasted from the Aphis page of the USDA website.

http://www.aphis.usda.gov/animal_health/animal_diseases/pseudorabies/


Can you provide any links to support the other portions of your post above???


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## jwb (May 12, 2008)

MSU is presently sequencing the virus to possibly identify the source and determine if the strain of pseudorabies is of wild type. The pigs were confirmed positive for pseudorabies.


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## Ninja (Feb 20, 2005)

jwb said:


> MSU is presently sequencing the virus to possibly identify the source and determine if the strain of pseudorabies is of wild type. The pigs were confirmed positive for pseudorabies.


Thanx for the info.....may I ask what your source is for all of the above info?
Your very new here, so I was just wondering if you were connected somehow.....


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## jwb (May 12, 2008)

Seems like there are some other (5-6) game farms facing problems due to this outbreak. They have shared and transported sport pigs between facilities, such that their operations may be exposed to pseudorabies. State is investigating and testing. One farm has some clients booked, but does not have enough stock on hand for them to kill and may not be able to obtain some from other facilities as has been done in past.


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## Ninja (Feb 20, 2005)

Again, thanx for the info, but some might tend to question the validity of it without source links or credentials......got any???


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