In the Star Tribune's Sports Section, Tony Kennedy previews Five outdoor issues in Minnesota worth watching in 2022.
We'll be watching this one most closely:
Fighting CWD
The Minnesota Deer Hunters Association called out deer farmers last year, publicly blaming them for spreading chronic wasting disease (CWD) to whitetails in the wild.
The hunters want the Legislature to ban farm-to-farm transport of captive deer, a stance taken after a Beltrami County herd owner created an unprecedented CWD biohazard. His infected farm illegally dumped its dead deer on public land.
If there's a reckoning in store for the industry in 2022, it could stem from DNR's new authority from the Legislature to share oversight of deer farms with the farmer-dominated Board of Animal Health. The reform measure was ordered by lawmakers in 2021. A report on the arrangement is due Feb. 1, possibly spelling out enforcement and rulemaking.
Meanwhile, DNR wildlife health officials still are busy with late-season hunts to test as many deer as possible for the fatal, neurological disease. In addition, federal sharpshooters are lined up to thin deer populations in two persistent focal areas: the south metro and endemic hotspots in southeastern Minnesota.
We suspect the DNR will act if hunters and wildlife conservationists continue raising the alarm about CWD.
Related posts:
- MN DNR: Positive test on 1 Brainerd Lakes area deer extends CWD management to 2024
- CWD news: DNR to rescind rule temporarily banning farmed deer movement into/within MN
- MN DNR: December CWD hunts offer deer hunters additional harvest opportunities
- CWD update: MN Center for Prion Research & Outreach's MN-QuIC field-deployment paper
- Minnesota CWD update: Changes for deer hunters in southern Red River Valley
- MN DNR: CWD suspected in a wild deer harvested along northwestern MN border
- Minnesota Chronic Wasting Disease news digest: upcoming firearms hunt spurs coverage
- Watch MNHouse Environment Committee hearing on CWD, EAB & local government water grants
- DNR: Chronic wasting disease testing is mandatory for MN deer opener in CWD zones
- CWD: Outdoors writer bags skinny doe, responds to American Cervid Alliance guy's letter
- State rep Tim Miller: MN state public officials beholden to radical anti-livestock enviro groups
- MN Deer Farmers Association sends House environmental committee chair a letter
- DNR temporarily bans farmed deer movement into & within MN to protect wild white-tailed deer
- CWD update: DNR Commissioner's letter to BAH Director on regulation to protect state's wild deer
- Bemidji Pioneer: Must-read article on illegal dumped CWD deer remains in Beltrami County
- Statement: Minnesota DNR learns of 2 deer farms that received deer from CWD+ farm in Wisconsin
- Hunters, tribes, conservation groups and St. Louis County call on state to get rid of deer farms
- 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: A wild white tail buck.
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