Friday morning, we posted Meanwhile in South Dakota: Game, Fish & Parks (GFP) Commission modifies rules related to CWD. Now, as we listen to Governor Walz's coronavirus press conference, a press release comes in from the Minnesota Board of Animal Health, Investigation confirms four additional CWD positive deer on Pine County farm:
Test results from the depopulation of a Pine County deer farm have confirmed four additional cases chronic wasting disease (CWD). The first CWD positive animals at this farm were confirmed in January 2020, resulting in depopulation of the herd. This herd was investigated because it provided animals to a Douglas County deer farm in the past, including a CWD-positive doe that began the disease investigation in December 2019.
"This CWD investigation has gone very well," said Board Assistant Director, Dr. Linda Glaser. "We identified the Pine County herd quickly from that initial positive result in Douglas County. We immediately traced animals and quarantined herds. Those actions were in coordination with other agencies to rapidly respond to CWD in Minnesota."
In early December 2019, a doe from the Pine County herd died, was tested and found to be CWD positive. In January, two fawns were harvested, and one tested positive for CWD. Following this development, the remaining six deer in the herd were depopulated, all of which were submitted for CWD testing. Results from the National Veterinary Services Laboratory on these six deer confirmed the detection of CWD in two does and one fawn. In all, five of the nine total animals in the Pine County herd were CWD positive.
The Pine County and Douglas County sites are not allowed to have any deer or elk for five years. Owners must maintain fencing to prevent wild deer from accessing empty pens. Biohazard signs have been posted on the fencing and must be maintained for the entire five-year fallow period. The investigation is ongoing, and the Board will continue to take immediate action if any new detections are identified.
CWD is a disease of the deer and elk family caused by prions, which can damage brain and nerve tissue. The disease is most likely transmitted when infected deer and elk shed prions in saliva, feces, urine, and other fluids or tissues. CWD is not known to naturally occur in other animals. The disease is fatal in deer and elk, and there are no known treatments or vaccines. Consuming infected meat is not advised.
In Friday's Star Tribune, Tony Kennedy reports Taxpayers paid more than $500,000 for deer farm buyouts the last three years in Minnesota and Wisconsin:
American taxpayers gave a total of more than $510,000 to deer farmers in Minnesota and Wisconsin to wipe out captive herds infected with chronic wasting disease (CWD) in 2017, 2018 and 2019, according to records released by the U.S. Department of Agriculture.
The expense increased each year, growing to $270,956 last year. The Star Tribune obtained the payment data under the Freedom of Information Act, but the USDA declined to detail the cases or identify who received the money.
According to the data, Minnesota deer farmers received $93,616 in 2017, $20,195 in 2018 and $128,926 last year — the largest sum for either state in the three-year period. Deer farms in Wisconsin collected a total of $270,115 under the federal indemnity program for captive deer and elk over the same three years, records show. (There were no buyouts in Wisconsin in 2017.) . . .
John Zanmiller, a lobbyist and spokesman for Whitetail Blufflands Association, a deer hunting group in southeastern Minnesota, said the USDA herd buyout program for infected deer farms is “like a dose of nasty medicine.”
For management of CWD, he said, it’s critical to kill captive deer herds infected with the disease. But some hunters wonder why the expense falls to taxpayers, Zanmiller said.
“Where’s the deer farmer’s contribution?” Zanmiller asked. “The buyouts promote the idea of private wealth at public expense.”
He also questioned why the program lacks transparency. There can’t be public scrutiny of the payments as long as case details aren’t disclosed, he said.
Read the entire tale at the Star Tribune.
Bonus natural resources awfulness tale from the Strib: Record 51 Asian carp caught in Minnesota, a sign the fish may have established permanent populations.
Related stories:
- Douglas County deer farm investigation leads to discovery of Pine County captive doe CWD case
- MN DNR Report: Emergency Response to Disease Outbreaks in Wildlife; or, Chronic Wasting Disease activities & spending
- MN DNR emergency rule prohibits all movement of farmed white-tailed deer for next 30 days
- Minnesota Chronic Wasting Disease test results update-- and a case of regulatory capture
- CWD news digest: #Mnleg agenda; Wisconsin confirms 105 recent CWD cases in captive deer
- Forum News: Chronic wasting disease biggest outdoors story in Minnesota and North Dakota
- South Dakota News Watch: Further spread of CWD alarms SD hunters, wildlife officials
- Study shows endocrine-disrupting imidacloprid, a neonicotinoid, messes up does and fawns
Photo: A whitetailed buck.
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