The Wisconsin Department of Natural Resources announced Wednesday that a wild deer tested positive for chronic wasting disease (CWD) in Marquette County.

Norman Yakeleya is calling for an emergency meeting with the federal and territorial governments to discuss the threat of chronic wasting disease (CWD) with the potential to decimate northern caribou herds.

This is the first time CWD, which affects the nervous systems of deer and elk and has no known cure, has been discovered in the province.

The death of an elk in eastern Finland has been blamed on chronic wasting disease, which has never been seen in the country before.

Dozens of moose carcasses were discovered last spring in a Lapland national park, and Finland animal disease watchdog Evira has since determined that the animals died of malnutrition. The reason why they were unable to find sustenance is a mystery, as the area had relatively normal temperatures and snowfall last winter.

Chronic wasting disease long thought not to affect human health.

CWD was first recorded in Saskatchewan in 1996 on a game farm, but has since moved into the wild deer, elk and moose populations, with wildfire-like infection rates in some areas. Up to 70 per cent of male deer are infected with the fatal disease, says a wildlife health specialist.