FRANKLIN COUNTY, Ind. — Franklin County is about to enter a new phase in the ongoing bovine tuberculosis surveillance.
Cattle herd testing is about to come to an end, while wild white-tailed deer samplings will be scaled back to a special permit program.
State officials say the plan is to complete surveillance efforts by the end of March and say support from deer hunters, cattle farmers, and landowners has been greatly appreciated.
During deer season, almost 2,000 deer were tested, and all tests came back negative for bovine tuberculosis.
The DNR will cancel a plan to use sharpshooters to cull deer throughout Fayette and Franklin Counties, and instead use landowners with special disease control permits to remove a limited number of deer.
A 10-mile radius testing zone was established in Franklin County to test cattle herds.
The number of infected herds remains at 2.
Testing is nearly completed in the zone.
After testing is complete, the Board of Animal Health will submit a management plan to the USDA in February, which will address future surveillance for farms and wildlife near the infected sites.
