State wildlife officials on Wednesday that more than 50 whitetail deer were killed on the Kent County breeding farm where chronic wasting disease was found in one of the animals.

Officials are not identifying the owner, nor the location of the farm, citing confidentiality issues. The deer shot Tuesday evening were transported to the Diagnostic Center for Population and Animal Health at Michigan State University for examination.

The deer carcasses will be incinerated after they are tested.

"The owner will not be able to put cervids (deer and elk) on that property ever again," said Bridget Patrick, spokesperson for the Michigan Department of Agriculture. State officials say the mutated protein that causes the disease is difficult to get rid of once it's in the soil.

Eradicating deer that have come into contact with an infected deer is standard protocol, officials say. The state quarantined all 558 captive breeding facilities in Michigan on Tuesday for an indefinite duration, hoping to stop animal movement between facilities until more is known about the source of the infection.

Last fall, 315 hunters registered and qualified for the Duluth hunt. Of those, 250 were successful, taking a total of 567 deer. Of those, 84 percent (476) were antlerless and 16 percent (91) were bucks.

In 2006, 195 successful hunters took 564 deer, 86 percent of them antlerless.

Of the 283 hunters registered for this fall’s hunt, about 30 are new to the city hunt, Lockett said."