CHRONIC WASTING DISEASE

Chronic wasting disease detected in deer near Hawley, Minnesota

Ryan McNamara — Wed, 29 Jan 2025 01:11:06 GMT

HAWLEY, Minn. — Chronic wasting disease has been discovered in two adult male deer, including one harvested near Hawley, marking the first time the disease has been identified in the area.

The Minnesota Department of Natural Resources said the deer in permit area 266, near Hawley, was harvested roughly 54 miles from the nearest previously confirmed case of Chronic wasting disease, or CWD. The finding raises concerns for wildlife officials and hunters in the region.

“We need more data to understand how prevalent this disease is in the area,” said Erik Hildebrand, the DNR’s wildlife health supervisor. “Implementing a full, effective surveillance scheme for next fall is going to be in the best interest to get the best understanding of disease prevalence.”

To monitor and limit the disease's spread, Hildebrand said new management zones may be created in affected areas, introducing additional regulations for hunters.

“There may be some mandatory sampling requirements during certain parts of the year,” Hildebrand explained. “There may also be carcass movement restrictions, which may impact how a hunter normally would have harvested the animal and then brought it back home. Their home may have been 100 or more miles away, but that'll have to change in some of these new areas.”

The deer near Hawley was harvested during the firearms deer season, and the disease was detected through tissue samples voluntarily submitted by hunters. The DNR emphasized the critical role hunters play in identifying and managing CWD.

“A big shout-out and kudos to the hunters that do get their deer tested. Both these positives were submitted by hunters voluntarily through our partner sampling program,” Hildebrand said.

The DNR has established management zones statewide to address CWD and has a clear response plan available for hunters and residents who want more information.

For details on the DNR’s response plan and management zones, visit dnr.state.mn.us.

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U of M researchers examine preparedness for possibility of CWD jump to humans

Mathew Holding Eagle III / MPR News — Sun, 12 Jan 2025 20:23:29 GMT

This week the Center for Infectious Disease Research and Policy at the University of Minnesota released a report titled “Chronic Wasting Disease Spillover Preparedness and Response: Charting an Uncertain Future,” detailing preparedness and response gaps should cross-species transmission of CWD happen between deer and other animals, including humans.

U of M CIDRAP director and report lead, Michael Osterholm, said it took a group of 67 national and international CWD experts two years to complete the study.

“This includes prion biology, human medicine, animal medicine, as well as the carcass disposal, wildlife conservation, etc.,” he said. “So, it really was a robust group, and one that I think summarized as well as has been done today, just the challenges that we have with CWD.”

In a release CIDRAP said “current CWD response efforts are constrained by inconsistent disease surveillance among states and limited resources that would be insufficient if a spillover event were to occur.”

In response to the disease, which is always fatal in deer, the report makes nine recommendations based on vulnerabilities identified by its organizers. They include improving areas of research, funding, surveillance, and public and animal health care.

Osterholm warned spillover might already be taking place.

“We have some limited data now suggesting that feral pigs might be infected. Well, if they can get infected, surely as possible domestic swine could also become infected,” he said. “What would that do to the swine market? What would that do to the cattle market? These are huge issues.”

Osterholm said another area of concern is for people who eat CWD contaminated venison which may contain infectious proteins known as prions.

“We know that people are being exposed through consumption with prions,” he said. “What we don’t yet understand is what would it take for that prion to actually infect that human with ingestion?”

Unlike other foods where cooking kills off foodborne pathogens making it safe to eat, cooking meat infected with CWD concentrates the disease making it worse.

“We have very little data on strain change over time in most hunted cervids in this country. How do we monitor for this in humans? How do we pick it up?” he asked. “Would a practicing physician in rural America seeing someone who has dementia think, ‘Well, it’s probably Alzheimer’s.’ Not recognizing it very well could be due to this prion. How do we do that kind of surveillance?”

The report, which was contracted by the Minnesota Department of Natural Resources, can be found online using the U of M’s CIDRAP website.

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DNR discontinues targeted culling of deer in part of Southeast Minnesota

Staff reports — Thu, 09 Jan 2025 18:12:37 GMT

ROCHESTER — The Minnesota Department of Natural Resources will discontinue targeted culling in the southeast corner of the state — including parts of Winona and Fillmore counties — where chronic wasting disease has reached “endemic stage.”

The DNR made the announcement on Wednesday, Jan. 8. It applies to deer permit areas 646, 647 and 648.

"Chronic wasting disease, commonly referred to as CWD, is a fatal neurological disease that affects cervids, including white-tailed deer. It is found globally and in about half of the states in the U.S. CWD remains relatively rare in Minnesota but is a concern as there is no known cure," the DNR website states.

When CWD prevalence reaches 5% or more, the disease has reached “endemic stage,” or a threshold where research shows culling is not effective at reducing disease prevalence or controlling the spread.

The DNR says its management strategy will shift emphasis “toward other CWD management tools within the endemic zone while working to prevent the spread of the disease beyond these areas.” This follows the DNR’s CWD surveillance and management plan developed in 2019 and most recently updated in July 2024.

“While it is disappointing that CWD prevalence has been increasing in these areas, it still remains relatively low compared to neighboring states, and we have not given up efforts to minimize its impact,” Wildlife Health Program Supervisor Michelle Carstensen said in a statement.

Although DNR is not pursuing targeted culling as a management tool in these areas, local landowners and hunters can still help manage chronic wasting disease in these areas by actively participating in opportunities to increase antlerless deer harvest, abiding by carcass movement restrictions, obeying feeding and attractant bans and participating in additional hunting opportunities, the release said

Outside of the areas where chronic wasting disease is now endemic, the DNR says it will continue to focus on early detection of new cases through sampling efforts and “employing aggressive actions to contain the spread, including culling where targeted operations are needed and effective.”

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Judge dismisses lawsuit challenging Minnesota deer farm regulations

Dan Gunderson / MPR News — Thu, 15 Aug 2024 18:50:55 GMT

A federal judge has dismissed a lawsuit challenging Minnesota laws that tighten regulation of the farmed deer industry.

The Legislature last year passed a package of laws restricting expansion and operation of white-tailed deer farms in the state. The laws took effect this year.

The action was in response to the spread of chronic wasting disease, an always fatal neurological disease that infects cervids, a family of animals including deer and elk.

The disease has spread among wild white-tailed deer in many locations around the state. Deer farmers said the new laws would eliminate the industry in Minnesota.

The Minnesota Deer Farmers Association filed suit against the state, seeking an injunction to prevent enforcement of the laws.

On Wednesday, Aug. 14, U.S. District Court Judge John Tunheim denied the injunction request and dismissed the lawsuit.

“Plaintiffs argue that the statute is not rationally related to the prohibition of new white-tail deer registrations because the ‘evil’ state seeks to control is CWD, not white-tail deer farmers,” Tunheim wrote in his decision. “However, the Minnesota Legislature passed the statute to prevent the spread of CWD, not to eliminate the white-tail deer farming profession. The eventual elimination of white-tail deer farming in Minnesota, while unfortunate, is incidental.”

The Minnesota Department of Natural Resources said in a statement the agency takes seriously its responsibility to protect the health of the state’s deer herd.

“The Minnesota Legislature provided the Minnesota DNR with oversight authority of the state’s white-tailed deer farms in 2023, and we will continue to work with deer farmers and follow duly enacted laws within our regulatory authority as we engage in that important work,” the agency said.

An attorney for the deer farmers said they will appeal the ruling to the United States Court of Appeals for the Eighth Circuit.

Erick Kaardal said he believed the court erred in dismissing the case. He said Minnesota statute identifies deer farming as an occupation.

“But in direct contradiction, the new 2024 state laws prohibit transfer of deer farm registrations to willing buyers and prohibit issuing new deer farm permits,” said Kaardal. “Meanwhile, my law firm represents a willing buyer who wants to again pursue the deer farming occupation, but he can’t because of the 2024 laws.”

Kaardal said the deer farmers will ask the appeals court for an expedited hearing of the case.

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Dokken: Game and Fish likely to lift baiting restrictions in North Dakota deer hunting Unit 2B

Brad Dokken — Sat, 30 Mar 2024 12:00:00 GMT

It’s not yet official, but deer hunters in Unit 2B of eastern North Dakota likely will be able to hunt deer over bait again this fall.

The North Dakota Game and Fish Department implemented baiting restrictions in Unit 2B in 2022 after chronic wasting disease was found in a whitetail buck shot in October 2021 on the Minnesota side of the Red River near Climax.

Unit 2B is a large hunting unit along the North Dakota side of the Red River extending from Grand Forks to south of Fargo.

As part of its CWD management plan, Game and Fish at the time implemented baiting restrictions in units where CWD had been detected or units within 25 miles of CWD-positive areas – in this case, the CWD-positive case on the Minnesota side of the river near Climax.

However, the Game and Fish Department in August 2023 announced as part of its CWD management plan that it would lift baiting restrictions in units with CWD or adjacent to CWD-positive areas if the number of deer equivalent to at least 10% of allocated gun licenses within that unit are tested for CWD, and all results are negative.

Unit 2B met that benchmark during hunter-harvested surveillance efforts conducted last fall in southeast North Dakota, said Dr. Charlie Bahnson, wildlife veterinarian for the North Dakota Game and Fish Department in Bismarck.

Game and Fish offered 1,800 deer gun licenses last fall in 2B, and the department sampled 181 deer from the unit, Bahnson said, all of which tested negative.

“We did meet our sampling goal in 2B, so according to our management plan 2B would come off the restricted list,” Bahnson said. “I use that verbiage because there is no CWD proclamation yet, but that’s what I would expect.”

The restriction would be lifted even though another three deer tested positive for CWD in Deer Permit Area 661 on the Minnesota side of the river, Bahnson said.

“Had we found (CWD) within the unit, the baiting restriction would remain, but because we reached our sampling goal, even though it was found adjacent to that unit, it still goes through the decision tree of being allowed again,” Bahnson said.

Game and Fish on Monday reported 11 new cases of CWD were found during 2023 sampling efforts, with positive cases detected in units 3A1, 3A2, 3E1, 3E2 and 3F2 – all units where CWD previously had been detected. No cases were found in southeast North Dakota where the department focused its sampling efforts, Bahnson said.

The 2024 CWD and deer season proclamations will be sent to Gov. Doug Burgum for approval later this summer.

What spring?

The way things were looking for a while there, I thought every lake in the region would be ice-free by now, and we’d be fishing in shirtsleeve weather.

Alas, it wasn’t to be.

Now that it’s spring, winter decided to make an appearance this past week in the form of a much-heralded snowstorm. Grand Forks dodged the brunt of this wintry wrath, with maybe an inch or two of the white stuff over the course of a couple of days, but the wind was brutal, and areas farther east and south got shellacked pretty hard.

And so we wait. For spring to return and spring activities to resume.

Spring walleye fishing on the Rainy River – an annual draw for thousands of anglers – got off to a promising start with an early ice-out along upper reaches of the river and boat ramps clear of ice in mid March.

Fishing for walleyes and saugers on Lake of the Woods and Rainy River is open through April 14, although fishing on Rainy River and adjacent Four-Mile Bay is catch-and-release only from March 1 through the end of the season.

Early fishing reports from the river were excellent.

Then came a cold snap, with some of the coldest temperatures of the winter, and large stretches of the river froze up again. The Royal Dutchman Resort on the Rainy River near Baudette, Minnesota, does an excellent job of posting river updates on social media – which is about as close as I get to fishing the Rainy River in the spring anymore, it seems – and there’ve been a few reports of hardy anglers launching boats and breaking through ice to reach patches of open water.

They’ve been rewarded for their efforts, but whether that’s dedication or something else is a matter of opinion.

As for me, I’m just not that mad at the fish.

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Minnesota deer farmers file federal lawsuit against state

John Myers — Wed, 17 Jan 2024 19:00:00 GMT

MINNEAPOLIS — The Minnesota Deer Farmers Association has filed a federal lawsuit against the state, including officials of the Department of Natural Resources and the Board of Animal Health, claiming a new law enacted by the 2023 Legislature is unconstitutional.

The deer farmers group says the law is intended to put their industry out of business in Minnesota.

The 60-page suit was filed by Twin Cities attorney Erick Kaardal on behalf of association members. It was filed Dec. 28 in Federal District Court in Minneapolis and has been assigned to Duluth-based Judge Leo Brisbois.

The new law prohibits any new deer or elk farms from being licensed and dramatically limits how animals can be moved into or within the state.

The law also transferred authority over white-tailed deer farms from the Board of Animal Health, which oversees livestock in the state, to the DNR, which already oversaw wild deer.

The suit claims the new law violates the 14th Amendment’s equal protection clause and the Fifth Amendment's takings clause.

Several Minnesota hunting and conservation groups pressed for the new laws. Many wildlife biologists believe the movement of farmed deer between states, and between farms within states, has helped hasten the spread of chronic wasting disease among wild deer nationwide.

Several Minnesota deer farms have been found to have animals infected with CWD, some of which escaped the farms and others which were dumped on public land after they died. The captive deer are raised both for scents, such as doe urine, and to sell as trophies for people to shoot on captive game farms.

Several Minnesota counties, including St. Louis, also have imposed moratoriums on any new deer farms.

CWD is an always-fatal neurological disease that affects many members of the deer family. There is no known cure, and the only way to test for it is if the animal is dead.

According to the DNR, there are now 125 registered white-tailed deer farms in Minnesota with 3,325 deer. The Board of Animal Health continues to oversee elk farms.

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More chronic wasting disease found in Minnesota deer

John Myers — Thu, 30 Nov 2023 20:38:23 GMT

ST. PAUL — More deer in Minnesota are testing positive for chronic wasting disease this fall, including three more deer in the northern half of the state.

Data on the Minnesota Department of Natural Resources website shows that CWD sampling conducted on deer shot during this fall’s hunting seasons, and one deer found dead, revealed 23 confirmed new cases of the always-fatal disease, as of Thursday, Nov. 30. Of those, 15 were in southeastern Minnesota where CWD has been most prevalent in recent years and five were near the Twin Cities.

Three CWD-positive deer were found in northern Minnesota, including one in Deer Management Area 679 around Grand Rapids, one in Area 604 around Brainerd and another in Area 661 near Crookston. All three areas had previous CWD-positive cases in past years.

All but one of the CWD-positive cases have been in areas where the disease had already been confirmed in wild deer. That one was in Area 342, in southeastern Minnesota, adjacent to previous CWD hotspots.

There are also 13 samples still pending a second confirmation test but considered “suspect,” which often turn out as CWD-positive.

DNR wildlife officials did not immediately return a request to comment on the current season's CWD results.

Since 2010 when testing began, Minnesota has found 245 cases of CWD in wild deer out of more than 11,500 deer tested. Ten of those positive results have been in northern Minnesota.

According to the U .S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, CWD is a neurological disease that affects deer, elk, reindeer and moose. It may take over a year before an infected animal develops obvious symptoms such as drastic weight loss, stumbling and listlessness. CWD can affect animals of all ages. Some infected animals may die without ever showing symptoms.

The disease can spread in infected saliva, urine, feces and even soil and can remain deadly for years after being shed by an infected animal. There are no treatments or vaccines.

There have been no reported cases of CWD infection in people, but health experts warn against humans consuming meat from CWD-positive animals.

New CWD cases this fall by deer management area: 605 — 3 645 — 1 646 — 1 647 — 6 648 — 8 649 — 1 661 — 1 679 — 1 342 — 1

Total: 23

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No chronic wasting disease found in Park Rapids or Bemidji regions

Thu, 30 Nov 2023 16:12:10 GMT

No evidence of chronic wasting disease (CWD) was found in the 1,409 samples tested from deer brought to Minnesota Department of Natural Resources’ stations in the region during the first two days of the firearm opener.

“The good news is there were no positive tests yet for our area and the vast majority of testing is complete,” Park Rapids area DNR forestry supervisor Erik Thorson said.

As of Nov. 27, 984 samples from permit area No. 684 were tested with 7 pending, 408 were tested from No. 259 with 3 pending and 17 deer tested from No. 287.

“We will do testing and surveillance for testing again next fall,” Thorson said. “That’s our best opportunity to get a good distribution of samples. Animals in the beginning stages of CWD may appear to be healthy, so this testing can pick it up if it’s present.”

He said, in areas where there are cases of CWD, measures to reduce the spread are taken.

“It’s similar to stopping the spread of aquatic invasive species,” he said. “Through good management strategies with CWD you can keep the spread down. The goal is to keep it from impacting deer populations and hunting long term. In the southeastern part of the state, they have more disease in wild deer and have had it for a longer period of time. They have more liberal hunting seasons to keep the deer population down, like late season hunts, and where they have hot spots, they do landowner permits after the season or culling efforts. Those efforts can help reduce the spread and prevalence of the disease.”

Deer-feeding ban still in place

Thorson said a deer-feeding ban remains in effect in Hubbard and Beltrami counties.

“This is done to help reduce the risk of CWD spreading,” he said. “That’s one aspect of managing the disease. Keeping the population density lower also helps reduce animal contact.”

He said infected deer may also pass the disease along to their offspring.

“Contact between deer is one of the primary transmission modes,” he said. “If deer are eating close together, there’s a greater chance for the disease to spread. That’s why recreational deer feeding is banned in this area.”

Use caution when hunting out of the areaThorson said hunters who come back with a deer carcass from a hunt in another part of the state or out of state need to take extra precautions.

“Be sure to properly dispose of carcasses, especially the head and spinal column,” he said. “CWD comes from an abnormal protein that is almost indestructible and persists in the environment. If someone dumps the carcass of a deer with the disease in their back woods, there’s the potential for that protein to be transferred if another deer ingests plants or soil from that area. Those proteins don’t decompose and can persist for many years. It’s not completely understood, but it’s certainly a risk.”

Report sick or dead deer

Residents who notice a deer that appears sick or is dead from an unknown cause should contact their local DNR office.

“Usually, the symptoms appear in the later stages of the disease,” Thorson said. “It’s usually some kind of neurological issue, like a drooping head or ears or being uncoordinated. They also have a poor body condition. We’re interested in testing the deer, if we can get a sample.”

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Whitetail south of Crookston tests ‘suspect’ for chronic wasting disease

Brad Dokken — Wed, 15 Nov 2023 22:59:00 GMT

A whitetail from Deer Permit Area 661 in the Red River Valley near Climax, Minnesota, has tested as “suspect” for chronic wasting disease, but a confirmed diagnosis won’t be known until results from additional testing are available.

If confirmed positive, the deer would be the second to test positive in the area southwest of Crookston for the brain disease that’s fatal to deer, elk and moose.

According to Erik Hildebrand, wildlife health supervisor for the Minnesota Department of Natural Resources, the suspect deer was a yearling doe shot during the opening weekend of firearms deer season. The hunter shot the deer about nine miles north of where an adult buck unexpectedly tested positive for CWD in the fall of 2021.

Hunters in DPA 661 and other 600-designation deer permit areas – known as CWD “management zones” – across the state were required to submit lymph node samples from deer they shot Nov. 4-5, the opening weekend of Minnesota’s firearms deer season. The DNR created DPA 661 (formerly 261) as a special CWD management zone in 2022 after the buck near Climax tested positive the previous fall.

Hunters to date have submitted 116 samples for testing from DPA 661, Hildebrand said Wednesday, Nov. 15. Of those, 90 have come back negative, he said, and results from another 25 are pending.

Confirmation usually takes about a week and a half, Hildebrand said, and results from the suspect deer may not be available until after Thanksgiving.

The North Dakota Game and Fish Department is sampling for CWD across the river in Unit 2B, a vast area that follows the Red River roughly from Grand Forks to south of Fargo, and portions of southeast North Dakota as part of a voluntary hunter-harvested surveillance program.

The news of a suspected CWD-positive case across the river in Minnesota ups the urgency for hunters to get their deer tested, said Dr. Charlie Bahnson, wildlife veterinarian for the North Dakota Game and Fish Department in Bismarck.

“We’re really hoping, essentially, that we can get a good number of deer tested to put that finding in context,” Bahnson told the Herald. “We’re hoping to test a lot of deer and, hopefully, not detect (CWD) but basically just get a better understanding of what the disease situation is on our side of the border.”

DPA661 by inforumdocs on Scribd

What the CWD-suspect deer near Climax means for hunters and future surveillance efforts remains to be seen. The DNR did conduct two late hunts in the Climax area after the confirmed positive case in 2021, but it only generated about 30 samples the first hunt and 20 samples the second, the DNR’s Hildebrand said.

Plans are in the works to talk with local DNR staff this week, he said, and perhaps follow up with area landowners, depending on whether the deer ultimately tests positive, to explore options for harvesting additional deer for surveillance.

“That’s still undecided at this point in time,” he said. “We have to get our confirmation first.”

The DNR submitted “just shy of 9,000” lymph node samples to a lab in Wisconsin on Nov. 7, the Tuesday after Minnesota’s firearms deer opener, and results are coming in about twice a day Hildebrand said.

For up-to-date results on CWD surveillance to date, check out the DNR website at mndnr.gov/cwd.

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Hunters had success in the field opening weekend

Mon, 06 Nov 2023 22:56:37 GMT

This weekend’s weather was favorable for the start of the firearms deer hunting season.

While some hunters would like a little snow cover to make tracking easier, moderate temperatures and mostly dry conditions were in their favor.

Erik Thorson is the wildlife supervisor for the Minnesota Department of Natural Resources’ Park Rapids area office.

“It was decent conditions for the opening weekend,” he said. “The weather was quite a bit better than last year when we had high winds for the last half of the opening weekend, which made it difficult for hunters. Some places had a little rain on Sunday, but it came later in the day. The temperatures this weekend and next week are pretty good for hunting. You don’t want it too hot because that reduces deer movement, but you don’t want it too cold because that reduces the amount of time hunters stay in their stands. A good equation for hunting is that it’s warm enough for deer to stay out there and cool enough for deer to move. It’s helpful to have snow for tracking, but recently that hasn’t happened so people get used to no snow during deer hunting.”

Local CWD testing

Thorson reported that, during the mandatory days for submitting samples to test for chronic wasting disease (CWD) on Nov. 4-5, the Park Rapids station received 77 samples, Akeley 143, Lake George 79 and the station at the north entrance to Itasca State Park had 91.

“The Bemidji station where I worked only received 198 samples for the first two days,” he said. “That’s up from 144 last year, so it seems like a better harvest so far this season. There was a high percentage of bucks, which isn’t surprising for the opening weekend. Hunters said there was a lot of rutting activity. There is more daytime activity during the peak of the rut. In a one-deer area, people are more likely to put their tag on a buck. If they don’t see a buck, they will often wait until the end of the season to fill it with an antlerless deer.”

He said samples from large bucks are the best for CWD testing.

“Those older bucks tend to roam more and are more likely to have the disease, so those are high value samples,” he said.

Hunters may also bring in deer for sampling during the rest of the firearms season, if they would like. Stations are located at the Park Rapids Area DNR Wildlife Office, Akeley Cenex, Lake George Community Park and the Rock Creek General Store near the north entrance to Itasca State Park.

For more information about CWD, visit mndnr.gov/cwd.

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