Just over a year ago, Bluestem Prairie reported in Chronic Wasting Disease: concerns for MN wild whitetails prompts deer farm moratorium [for new operations] bill:
Concerns over the impact of chronic wasting disease (CWD) spreading from farmed deer to Minnesota's treasured 1-million-animal wild whitetail herd--which generates "more than $500 million annually in economic activity tied to deer hunting"-- has lead to the introduction of HF1948, which would impose a moratorium on new deer farms until January 1, 2020. . . .
The new article--and the bill--come on the hooves of investigative reporter Tony Kennedy articles in the Star Tribune, including Tensions over deer farming surface in Minnesota's double outbreak of CWD and National alliance calls for a review of Minnesota's handling of deer farms.
While the Minnesota legislature failed to act on behalf of the state's economically valuable and cultural priceless wild deer herd, the slow-motion crisis in Southeast Minnesota continues to deepen. On the back page of the Star Tribune's Sports Section (page C10) Tony Kennedy reported earlier this week in Winona County chronic wasting disease case marred by regulatory failure:
A herd of captive whitetail deer fully infected by chronic wasting disease (CWD) roamed a pen that was inadequately fenced but approved by an inspector from the Minnesota Board of Animal Health, the Star Tribune has learned.
The case has rankled wildlife officials at the Department of Natural Resources (DNR) because of the health risk the farm poses to wild deer in Winona County, one of the most densely populated whitetail regions in the state.
Deer hunters there almost surely will experience fallout from the case this fall if the DNR follows its routine of ordering CWD surveillance of the local herd. Lymph nodes from harvested deer are removed and tested for CWD. In other areas of the state, the checks have been mandatory.
“We have grave concerns about wild deer being infected by these facilities,” said Lou Cornicelli, wildlife research supervisor at the DNR. “I think hunters should be pretty afraid of this one.”
Cornicelli said the farmer’s herd of seven whitetails was “100 percent infected and the Board of Animal Health says the fence wasn’t in compliance. That’s worrisome.” . . .
The rural Winona farm owned by Bruce Hoseck was depopulated of deer Feb. 21, but the 12-acre facility still is considered a disease hazard to healthy wild deer because they are capable of breaching a fence that remains out of compliance. Hoseck said his fence has sagged over the years and many parts are lower than 7 feet in height. The state minimum height is 8 feet. He said it’s been that way for years and a small section of the fence was damaged last year and dipped to as low as 5 feet. The spot still is not fully repaired, he said.
Those of us who garden in rural areas know that whitetails easily bound over five foot fences--while the more ambitious Bambis are only deterred by those eight-plus foot fences. Kennedy continues:
But agency records show that Hoseck’s fence passed inspection in each of the past three years, including a check completed by the Board of Animal Health on Oct. 25.
“Yeah, that would be the case,” said Michael Crusan, a spokesman for the Board of Animal Health.
Hoseck told the Star Tribune that the state first told him his fence was out of compliance a month after the most recent inspection. That’s when CWD was first detected on his farm. . . .
The discovery of CWD on Hoseck’s farm southeast of the city of Winona comes at a time of friction between the Board of Animal Health and the DNR. DNR officials complained publicly last year about a so-called “cozy relationship’’ between the Board of Animal Health and the deer and elk farmers the agency regulates.
In April, after some legislators and two deer groups also complained about alleged lax enforcement, the office of Minnesota Legislative Auditor Jim Nobles announced it would take a look. A report from auditor’s office is expected to be released next month.
Meanwhile, the DNR’s enforcement division is investigating the Hoseck case.
‘‘There is an active investigation into violations on that cervid farm,” Lt. Col. Greg Salo said Monday.
Read the rest at the Star Tribune. Outdoors columnist Dennis Anderson writes in Legislature must clamp down on deer, elk farms to limit CWD damage :
You don’t have to be a modern-day Einstein to know that time and space have compressed at unprecedented rates during the last quarter-century. . . .
The latter is the concern today, because while space-time compression usually results in cultural and economic benefits, negative consequences often correspondingly flow to plants, animals, land and water, i.e., the natural world.
Yet the reclamation of those resources, or their protection, occurs at a relative snail’s pace. Chronic wasting disease (CWD) in deer, particularly in captive deer and elk, provides examples of this disparity — and examples, too, of Minnesotans’ willingness, so often, to be taken for chumps.
More on that later.
For now, recall that CWD is the always fatal deer and elk brain affliction that is endemic in southern Wisconsin, and also threatens Minnesota whitetails. The disease endangers the more than 2 million deer in the two states, as well as the states’ multibillion-dollar hunting and wildlife-watching economies.
The 1 million or more Minnesota and Wisconsin residents who eat venison also are at risk. Canadian research begun in 2009 found for the first time that CWD can jump species. Macaque monkeys contracted the disease after eating CWD-infected deer — the first known transmission of CWD to a primate. . . .
As was reported by Tony Kennedy in this newspaper on Wednesday, a captive deer herd in Winona County was killed Feb. 21 and tested for CWD. All seven animals at the facility were infected. The depopulation followed positive CWD tests on two other deer that died on the farm in November and December. The further bad news is that the farm was poorly fenced and ineffectively monitored by the Minnesota Board of Animal Health, possibly allowing the intermingling of the infected captive deer with healthy wild whitetails.
Cutting to the chase — and disregarding for the moment the blather from deer and elk farmers about the wholesomeness of their relatively meager $17 million “industry” — captive whitetail and elk herds are the No. 1 threat to the health of wild deer in Minnesota and beyond. . . .
Yet the “regulation” of these captive deer and elk farms in Minnesota by the Board of Animal Health occurs at a comparative snail’s pace — when it occurs at all. At least in Wisconsin, deer farmers are required to have a DNR-issued fencing permit.
Minnesotans, you’re chumps if you don’t insist during this legislative session that at a minimum, deer farms should be double-fenced to ensure that captive deer and elk can’t mix with wild deer.
You’re also chumps if you don’t demand that regulation of these farms be removed from the Board of Animal Health.
Better yet, buy out the whole lot of them. And be done with deer and farming in Minnesota.
That being said, perhaps last year's proposed moratorium in legislation introduced by South St. Paul Democrat Rep. Rick Hansen--who also farms with his brother in Southeastern Minnesota--doesn't seem as "anti-ag" as Republican colleagues imagined.
Anderson raises a valuable point: will lawmakers side with a tiny ag industry--private herds--or the people's herd of wild deer?
Photo: A deer suffering from CWD. Our headline is inspired by a headline from Business Insider, US health authorities are warning that 'zombie deer disease' is spreading — and some fear it could start infecting humans. Minnesota is mentioned in the article.
If you appreciate our posts and original analysis, you can mail contributions (payable to Sally Jo Sorensen, 600 Maple Street, Summit SD 57266) or use the paypal button in the upper right hand corner of this post. Those wishing to make a small ongoing monthly contribution should click on the paypal subscription button.
Or you can contribute via this link to paypal; use email [email protected] as recipient.
Comments