ST. PAUL, Minn. – Shipment of farm white-tail deer has been banned everywhere anywhere in Minnesota at least through July 3 by the state Natural Resources Department. The ban was ordered after 13 deer tested positive for fatal chronic-wasting disease in a herd of 55 deer near Bemidji. The bones of a dead deer also traced positive. There had been inter-herd deer shipments to the Bemidji farm, the agency said. Related to the ban is a new quarantine of herds in Crow Wing, Dakota, Hennepin, Kanabec, Mille Lacs, Morrison, Mower and Stearn counties. A Winona County farm has been under quarantine since October. An exception to the ban is deer being shipped for slaughter. The new ban gives wildlife agents a window to track the spread of the disease and devise prevention strategies.
Verbatim
Sarah Strommen, DNR commissioner: “This is a serious disease that poses a growing threat to Minnesota’s wild deer, and our actions must reflect that. The DNR is committed to proactively addressing CWD and doing everything we can to protect Minnesota’s white-tailed deer as part of our natural heritage. The CWD detections at the Beltrami County farm, its connections to other farms in the state and the additional contamination outside of the farm, pose a risk to wild deer that requires emergency action.”
CWD profile
CWD, sometimes called Deer Zombie Disease, was first detected in Minnesota in Houston County in 2016. Since then the state has tested more than 90,000 wild deer. To date, 115 wild deer have been confirmed as the disease as spread to other herds and wild deer.