It's a short article in a digest of hunting-related news, but the Minnesota House Environment and Natural Resources Committee informational hearing about Chronic Wasting Disease is finally getting some attention.
At the Star Tribune, Tony Kennedy reported on Thursday in Interest grows in stopping spread of CWD in Minnesota:
The St. Louis County Board of Commissioners, northern Chippewa bands and a coalition of hunters and conservationists have all come out against deer farming in hopes of stopping chronic wasting disease (CWD) from spreading between captive deer and the state's wild deer herd.
At a recent meeting of the Minnesota House Environment and Natural Resources Finance and Policy Committee, the groups voiced desire to stop permitting new deer farms and start dismantling the industry by having taxpayers fund a sweeping buyout program. One estimate put the price tag at $24 million.
St. Louis County Commissioner Patrick Boyle said in an interview this week that the county attorney's office is working on a public process to enact a freeze against any new deer farms in the county. The action was triggered by a unanimous vote of the county's seven commissioners, six of whom are deer hunters, he said.
Boyle said they were motivated by last year's finding of CWD on a deer farm in Beltrami County, the farthest north the disease has ever been detected in Minnesota. The case has alarmed state wildlife health officials because infected carcasses from the deer enclosure were dumped illegally on nearby public land. Taxpayers paid $190,000 for a security fence to cordon off the site, now polluted with CWD contagions that could persist on the land for more than a decade.
State officials have documented how CWD-infected captive deer have been moved long distances in the commercial trade of deer bought and sold between farms, often for pay-to-hunt shooting experiences or for the breeding of monster bucks. Various outbreaks of CWD in wild deer have been linked to deer farms in Minnesota, Wisconsin and elsewhere. Minnesota already has spent $14 million to combat the disease, an always-fatal neurological ailment that many believe could ruin the tradition of deer hunting, a $500 million-a-year activity that touches every county in the state.
Rep. Rick Hansen, who chairs the natural resources committee, said he'll hold a second hearing before November's firearm deer season to receive more testimony about CWD and deer farms. The state regulates the industry, now composed of 253 herds. Some herd owners have said captive deer are being infected by diseased wild deer, not vice versa.
At the initial hearing Sept. 14, a new coalition that included deer hunting associations, the National Wildlife Federation and the Fond du Lac Band of Lake Superior Chippewa presented a resolution calling for an immediate moratorium on any new deer or elk farms and for the buyout of existing operations. The animals are classified as "cervids."
"The movement of captive cervids for the benefit of captive cervid operators has proven to present an unacceptable risk to our state's wild deer, moose, and elk and those who hunt, photograph, or otherwise value wild cervids on the landscape,'' the resolution states.
Here's the YouTube of the House hearing:
Related posts:
- Tune in to House Enviro Committee hearing tomorrow morning for latest CWD information
- MN DNR press release: Return to mandatory testing in chronic wasting disease zones this season
- South Dakota Game, Fish & Parks: CWD detected in mule deer in new area, Perkins County
- UMN MNPRO’s latest research detects CWD prions in cervid muscles using RT-QuIC
- MNReformer Radio podcast interviews Jamie Becker-Finn on Chronic Wasting Disease politics
- Listen to MN House environment committee chair Rep. Rick Hansen talk CWD on Matt McNeil Show
- Special Board of Animal Health meeting to review farmed Cervidae rulemaking postponed
- Bad news from the North: CWD sweeps through Alberta & Saskatchewan deer & elk herds
- Forum News Service: MN Deerhunters Association wants to end deer farming
- Just in: House DFL Lawmakers urge resignation of Minnesota Board of Animal Health President
- Star Tribune: Deer farming and "CWD-infested dump site on public land" in Beltrami County
- Are deer farmers posing against MN DNR rule pausing movement of captive whitetails?
- MN DNR temporarily bans movement of farmed whitetails in state to protect wild deer health
- 5 more MN deer farm herds exposed to CWD; Beltrami carcass dump site inquiry continues
- News release: U of M testing finds presence of CWD prions at Beltrami Co. carcass dump site
- BAH: Southern Minnesota CWD investigation identifies new infection in Beltrami County
- Concerned about CWD in MN deer? Learn about new research from MNPRO's Peter Larsen
- Some of the science at the center of Update on Chronic Wasting Disease Efforts hearing
- VIDEO: MNHouse passes bill for process to extend funding for ENRTF projects for one year
- Session Daily: Experts want to study how CWD flows in state's waterways
- Sen. Andrew Lang seems behind the curve on current funding & progress of CWD test research
- VIDEO: University of Minnesota scientists share CWD research, search for test with lawmakers
- Environment and Natural Resources Trust Fund plan from U of M for CWD diagnostic test
- Peter Larsen slideshow: Development of Advanced Diagnostic Tests for CWD by U of M
Photo: Wild white-tailed buck.
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