HOKAH, Minn. – The Department of Natural Resources ordered all deer shot north of the Root River from the Mississippi River to Houston be tested for highly contagious chronic wasting disease. The restriction followed a positive CWD test in a 2-1/2-year-old white-tailed doe that a hunter had killed on a deer farm. Game wardens acknowledged that 11 other deer also had been shot on the property, none testing positive. The farm’s herd has been quarantined and herd records monitored for the past five years. The assistant director of the Minnesota Board of Animal Health, Linda Glaser, said there are 38 adults and 11 fawns in the herd. The farm has been double-fenced since 2017, after the disease jumped the Mississippi River from Wisconsin.
CWD profile
Could the state’s whole deer population be wiped out? Yes. And elsewhere too. The disease, which affects deer and elk, is caused by prions that damage brain and nerve tissue. The prions exist in saliva, feces, urine, and other fluids or tissues. There is no treatment. Consuming meat from infected animals is not advised, even though, unlike Mad Cow Disease, there appears to be no trans-species transmission to humans.