In recent decades "M. bovis" infections in cattle herds in the United States is not common. "M. bovis" is endemic in white-tailed deer ("Odocoileus virginianus") in the northeastern portion of Michigan and northern Minnesota, and sporadically imported from Mexico. Only the white-tailed deer has been confirmed as a maintenance host in the Michigan outbreak of bovine tuberculosis, although other mammals such as raccoons ("Procyon lotor"), opossums ("Didelphis virginiana"), and coyotes ("Canis latrans") can serve as spill-over and dead-end hosts. The fact that white-tailed deer are a maintenance host for "M. bovis" remains a significant barrier to the US nationwide eradication of the disease in livestock. In 2008, 733,998 licensed deer hunters harvested around 489,922 white-tailed deer in attempts to control the disease spread. These hunters purchased more than 1.5 million deer-harvest tags. The economic value of deer hunting to Michigan's economy in the drive to eradicate TB is substantial. For example, in 2006, hunters spent US$507 million hunting white-tailed deer in Michigan.