CWD found in Minnesota deer

[mnmaverick]

Bad news for Minnesota's deer herd, as a preliminary test of the herd in SE MN showed CWD in one animal. This is in the same area where an elk farm was shut down not long ago due to CWD.

http://www.startribune.com/sports/outdo ... 65399.html

[dewey]

That is terrible news.[:@] I wonder if that "older" deer contracted the disease from the lek that were wiped out down there a few years ago?[8|] I wonder if they (MNDNR)will have to wipe out the deer herd in that area to ensure it does not spread any further?[8|]

Hey mnmaverick how close is that area to where you go hunting?

Dewey

[mnmaverick]

Pine Island is about 40 miles from where I hunt. I'm praying it didn't spread much and that if they have to eradicate a herd it will be confined to a small area. The DNR was testing animals where I registered my deer the past few years and nothing showed up, so that's a good sign. This could have potentially huge consequences on deer management in Minnesota for years to come either way.

[mnmaverick]

Here is another article on this from the Rochester Post Bulletin today:

Deer shot near Pine Island might have chronic wasting disease Posted: Jan 21, 2011, 9:34 am[/align] Updated: Jan 21, 2011, 11:12 am[/align] Tweet
[/align] By John Weiss
The Post-Bulletin, Rochester MN
weiss@postbulletin.com


PINE ISLAND — One of the Department of Natural Resources's biggest fears for the state deer may have come true — chronic wasting disease.

A deer shot south of Pine Island last fall might have the disease.

If the disease is confirmed with more tests next week, it would be the first time it has been found in the state's wild deer herd.

CWD is an animal brain disease and is fatal to deer, elk and moose; it's never been shown to affect humans. It has been found in 13 other states, including Wisconsin, and two Canadian provinces.

The DNR has been taking tissue samples from deer that hunters allow to be checked for several years, especially around Pine Island. Four elk in the captive herd formerly at Elk Run near Pine Island tested positive for the disease in 2008; all elk there were shot.

Since 2002, more than 32,000 deer, elk and moose shot by hunters have been tested to find the disease early and try to head it off. The sample with possible CWD was one of 524 taken in the Pine Island area last fall.

The DNR has already started its CWD response plan and will take steps in the next few weeks to learn how prevalent the disease is and try to eliminate it.

"The good news is that we are well prepared for an attempt to control the disease and to possibly eliminate it,” said Tom Landwehr, DNR commissioner.

In states where CWD has been established, nothing has stopped it. "The disease, if unmanaged, can spread and occur at high enough rates to impact long-term deer populations," the DNR said today.

The first step will be to do an aerial survey to see how many deer are in the Pine Island area, said  Lou Cornicelli, DNR big game coordinator who will lead the agency’s CWD response team. Then landowners will be asked to help collect more tissue samples. There is very little public hunting land in the area.

Sample collection could come with a late winter deer hunt, shooting permits for landowners, or sharpshooters on land where owners have granted permission. This would help show where the disease may have spread. Special hunts would also reduce the deer herd to lessen the chances of the disease spreading.

[mnmaverick]

Updated information from the Star Tribune with maps:

http://www.startribune.com/sports/outdo ... anchO7DiUs

[Mastertangler]

Feel sorry for you guys....you're going to have to suffer the same ill responses and results as Wisconsin has been going through. But so far as I know, they've still never confirmed how it's transmitted, where it comes from, or how to kill it. It's probably like cancer....everyone has it in them, it's just a matter if it goes active in your body or not, and you can't really eliminate it.

You know why they haven't found it in every state...it's cause they don't test for it. What you don't know won't hurt you

Hope your dnr gets a better grasp of the situation than ours did. The silly panic they caused here was ridiculous.

[dewey]

Here is a Q and A article from the Star Tribune with MN DNR big game coordinator Lou Cornicelli.

http://www.startribune.com/local/114429 ... ncyD_MDCiU

He makes reference to possibly using the public to help harvest some of the deer from this area. Does anyone else know if they are going to use the public in lieu of sharpshooters?[8|] I wonder if you got the word out to the Metro area how many hunters you could get down there to help with this problem.

I would be game with going down there and doing some 'hunting' to help control the CWD problem.

Dewey

[Patriot]

I just don't know how to feel about this. 
 
I don't feel it's right to eradicate all deer in the area just because 1 of 524 tested positive.
 
I don't hunt in that area.  If I did, I'd be devistated if "all" the deer were killed because of this.

[kragevalley]

I happen to have grown up in Pine Island... this is a shame. The elk farm was a joke! there was a ton of elk there for the sole purpose of hobby! the land it was on is south of pine island very near rochester. So the roughly 1200 acres is worth millions. future developement plans of the land are currently up in the air. but i have no doubt in my mind that the two events are related. That land owner should be held responsible if this eventually becomes a more serious problem! this is coming from a local who knows members of the family who own the "elk farm"...

[mnmaverick]

Well, testing confirmed the positive test. Now only time will tell how the DNR responds. I'm with you Patriot, in that I don't agree with killing off the herd there. Even if they use the public to do so (which they have said is an option), I think it is a vast overreaction.  This is just devastating to anyone that owns hunting land in that area. I can only hope the "CWD zone" the DNR implements doesn't reach where I hunt near Chatfield!

Here's the full Strib article from today. I'm sure there will be much more info to come in the next few weeks.

Chronic wasting disease confirmed in Minnesota By PAUL WALSH, Star Tribune
Last update: January 26, 2011 - 11:47 AM


[/align]A national lab has confirmed, as expected, that a sample from a deer killed in southeastern Minnesota tested positive for chronic wasting disease, the first wild whitetail in the state to be afflicted.
The Minnesota Department of Natural Resources (DNR) received the confirmation Tuesday from the National Veterinary Services Laboratory in Ames, Iowa. The preliminary diagnosis of CWD was made by the University of Minnesota.


The DNR said last week that the deer was taken by an archer in November near Pine Island.
CWD is a fatal brain disease that affects deer, elk and moose but not cattle or humans.
The DNR is implementing its response, starting with an aerial survey of the deer population in the Pine Island area. During the next two weeks, DNR will work with landowners, collecting additional information and sharing its plans and findings at a public meeting in February. Those plans are expected to include killing and sampling a portion of deer there to check for the spreading of the disease.
The DNR has been concerned about the spread of CWD to the state's wild deer since 2002, when the disease was first found in captive elk near Aitkin. Minnesota's wild deer number about 1 million, and because CWD is always fatal to deer and elk, the effect on the state's half-million deer hunters and related industries would be significant.


CWD, which can be transmitted by animal-to-animal contact, is not believed to pose a danger to humans, though hunters and others who eat venison and elk meat are warned that an animal's brains and spinal cord should be avoided. The disease causes small lesions in brains of infected animals, degenerating their body condition and behavior.


CWD has long been found in some wild deer in southern Wisconsin.