Legislative Auditor's report on Board of Animal Health oversight of deer farms isn't pretty

Late Thursday evening, Bluestem asked Run, Bambi, run! What will auditor's "BAH’s Oversight of Deer & Elk Farms" report reveal?

The report (embedded below) is out and the light of day isn't kind.

At the Star Tribune, Outdoors columnist Dennis Anderson reports in Lax oversight of deer and elk farmers cited in critical report by Minnesota legislative auditor:

Lax oversight of Minnesota’s deer and elk farmers by the Board of Animal Health, particularly in testing for Chronic Wasting Disease (CWD), was cited in a report issued Friday morning by the office of Legislative Auditor James Nobles.

Threats posed to captive deer and elk, as well as to wild deer, by the possible spread of CWD are reasons why the board should improve CWD testing compliance by deer and elk farmers, the report said.

Since 2002, CWD has been found on eight Minnesota deer and elk farms and in wild deer in two Minnesota counties, the report noted. Deer and elk producers are required to submit tissue samples for CWD testing for all animals that die on their farms.

But Board of Animal Health staff don’t adequately monitor when farmers submit the required tissues, according to Nobles’ office.

From 2014 to 2017, about a third of deer and elk farmers that reported dead animals in their operations failed to submit tissues from at least one of the animals for CWD testing, the report said.

Nobles recommended that the Board of Animal Health — which should add a representative from the general public, the report said — should more closely oversee deer and elk farmers, strengthen consequences for offending producers and monitor the performance of its field staff.

The board and the DNR also should develop an agreement outlining each of the agency’s data sharing responsibilities.

Tension between the board and the DNR has increased in recent years as the threat of CWD spreading among the state’s wild deer has grown. Increasingly, deer escaping from captive farms has raised the specter of CWD contamination in wild deer spreading from the southeast, where it has been contained so far, to other parts of the state.

Read the rest at the Strib. Anderson also notes a recommendation that the Legislature convene a task force "to study whether state laws governing the feeding of wild deer and the importation of captive deer and elk are adequate."

Listen to an audio file of the meeting here.

Here's the report itself:

Board of Animal Health’s Oversight of Deer and Elk Farms uploaded by Sally Jo Sorensen on Scribd

There wasn't any streaming audio for the meeting, so Bluestem has to rely on tweets to document some of the response to the release of the report. Legislative Audit Commission House Chair Rep. Rick Hansen, DFL-S.St. Paul, tweeted the event:

“We found that the Board of Animal Health has failed to enforce some laws relating to deer and elk farms” #mnleg #deerhunting #CWD pic.twitter.com/mbVsPtmmaI

— Rep. Rick Hansen (@reprickhansen) April 20, 2018

Accuracy #mnleg #CWD #deerhunting pic.twitter.com/AwPJTZeQJQ

— Rep. Rick Hansen (@reprickhansen) April 20, 2018

CWD: “The disease is highly transmissible among fervid and always fatal”. #mnleg

— Rep. Rick Hansen (@reprickhansen) April 20, 2018

Uh-oh #mnleg #deerhunting #CWD pic.twitter.com/jBp0eBBAZz

— Rep. Rick Hansen (@reprickhansen) April 20, 2018

OLA: “Of BAH’s 41 staff members, none were fully dedicated to the deer and elk program during that fiscal year (FY 17)” #mnleg #deerhunting #CWD

— Rep. Rick Hansen (@reprickhansen) April 20, 2018

“...do not meet statutory requirements...#mnleg #deerhunting #CWD pic.twitter.com/EUwYPNtiKN

— Rep. Rick Hansen (@reprickhansen) April 20, 2018

“When people know why? they are more likely to comply.” @TinaLiebling asks about getting the people of Minnesota aware of deer feeding bans. #mnleg #deerhunting #CWD

— Rep. Rick Hansen (@reprickhansen) April 20, 2018

DNR Commish Tom Landwehr & Lou Cornicelli respond to OLA Audit on https://t.co/fnBGQ9kUQA. #mnleg #deerhunting #CWD pic.twitter.com/q7kUSSXLx1

— Rep. Rick Hansen (@reprickhansen) April 20, 2018

Roseville deerhunter and DFL state representative Jamie Becker-Finn tweeted her thoughts:

1/ Link to full report here: https://t.co/Yyk8UrqwJf

Let’s break down some of these findings.... https://t.co/3uWI63A8Pu

— Jamie Becker-Finn (@jbeckerfinn) April 20, 2018

2/ “The Board has five members, but not one who represents the general public”

Current Board is made up of two industry guys and two veterinarians. “Livestock producer” seat is currently vacant. Which one of them speaks for you? pic.twitter.com/oiWjLVJvQ0

— Jamie Becker-Finn (@jbeckerfinn) April 20, 2018

3/ “as of April 2018, MN had 398 registered herds, consisting of about 9300” animals

*about*

Reality is that *nobody knows* how many farmed deer and elk there are in our state. How do you track the spread of an infectious disease when you don’t even know the population?

— Jamie Becker-Finn (@jbeckerfinn) April 20, 2018

4/ “MN law does not require that deer and elk ID tags be read & recorded when completing inventory”

Farms just take the number they reported the year before and then add or subtract based on *known* births and deaths. They stare at a herd with binoculars and make estimates.

— Jamie Becker-Finn (@jbeckerfinn) April 20, 2018

The Star Tribune put Anderson's report in the outdoors section, but this should be front page news, given the value Minnesotans put on the wild deer herd--a value that crosses regional, gender and ethnic divisions.

Photo: A whitetail suffering from Chronic Wasting Disease.

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.