CWD in Minnesota

[flipper]

This just in:

Preliminary results indicate CWD detected in a deer near Pine Island north of Rochester.

More to come.....

[Tom7227]

Seems to me that it's awfully close to that big elk operation they closed a while back because of CWD. How much is it going to cost to work on this outbreak? IMO all those fenced in deer and elk operations ought to be closed. No way will they ever come close to covering the costs of things like this. What good are they?

[goblueM]

tom, that was my first thought as well - right next to that large elk operation. certainly could be coincidental... but that would be my first culprit to check out

[Billy_Burbout]

isn't it also very close to wisconsin where they have infected deer all over?

[Tom7227]

Pine Island is 1/2 way between TC and Rochestor on 52. I think most of the Wisconsin CWD is more in the middle of the state by the Dells area.

Here's the deal. The elk producer probably is long gone, bankrupt, whatever. It has already cost nearly a million to secure the place (unsuccessfully from what I've read) and now it is going to cost huge dollars to deal with the problem. Wisconsin ended up trying to eliminate deer in their CWD area. Will that have to happen here?

What are those elk farms for? What benefit are they other than to provide some racks for some rich dude who's too lazy to go get his own?

[MJ1657]

I'm not arguing for or against elk farms but they sell meat and velvet off of the racks to other countries for medicinal purposes.

[96trigger]

Quote:

Pine Island is 1/2 way between TC and Rochestor on 52. I think most of the Wisconsin CWD is more in the middle of the state by the Dells area.

Pine Island is 10 miles from Rochester and 70 miles from the twin cities, thats not quite half way.

I will be listening to what the DNR plans are. In the thousands of deer shot down here, one infected with CWD was going to happen sooner or later. There are couple of deer farms down here. Maybe the Elk Farm was the culprit, we won't know. The question now is, what is going to get done about it.

[Billy_Burbout]

a cattle farm gave wild deer in northern minnesota TB that cost all of us millions too. (and still costing us). we couldnt string up all the cattle producers for this and blame them could we? havn't heard anything about this yet, but if its true it is going to be a bad deal.

[snapcrackpop]

If the DNR implaments a "TB Zone" in SE MN like the one in northern MN we're going to hear a LOT about it. Ouch.

[Billy_Burbout]

wow. its very true. just read it off the dnr HSOforum. this is going to be a huge blow to all of us in the state of minnesota. we have to be together on this one gentleman and not do the blame game. this is going to hurt every hunting industry here as well as the ag related ones. its a sad day for us all in minnesota

[PostFrontal]

The elk farm and property around it (around 1000 acres) was sold to Tower Investments a few years back before the elk were found to have CWD.

They were required to maintain high fences and other barriers so that deer wouldn't be able to make it on the property. But I did read a couple months ago that there were fences that were were found to have fallen down and weren't maintained.

That deer was shot 3 miles sw of Pine Island which is Olmstead County...where we hunt. Great.

[HandGunner]

lol i was just about to post a thready about this... any whoo well im hunting south east MN about an hour or 2 further south from rochester... CWD is it any harm to us if we eat a deer with it? im not sure how any caged deer would get to the state land i hunt on but its possible they do travel far.

so wats the game plan the DNR is thinking of?

[Dave S]

This is from the Strib:

A deer killed by an archer in southeast Minnesota last fall is believed to have been infected by chronic wasting disease, the first wild whitetail in the state to be stricken.

Preliminary tests show that a doe felled Nov. 28 near Pine Island in Olmsted County carried the disease. Very little of the animal has been eaten by the hunter or his family, the Department of Natural Resources reported Friday morning, and authorities will pick up the butchered meat for further testing.

CWD 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 deer was killed about three miles from a captive elk farm near Pine Island that had been shut down recently after CWD was identified in its herd, which subsequently was “de-populated,’’ or killed in its entirety.

DNR big game coordinator Lou Cornicelli said Friday there is no way to determine how the wild deer became infected.

Before it was shot, the animal appeared thin, the archer recalled, but otherwise behaved normally. CWD can gestate in an infected animal for as long as four years before clinical signs of the disease are detected and the animal dies.

The archer has asked state authorities to remain anonymous.

First discovered in Minnesota in a captive elk herd near Aitkin in 2002, and since found in three other captive elk herds, the disease had not previously been found here in wild animals despite continual testing by the DNR.

The National Veterinary Services Laboratory in Ames, Iowa, is expected to confirm the initial diagnosis of the Minnesota deer next week.

“It’s possible but not likely,’’ the lab will find the deer wasn’t infected, Cornicelli said.

CWD has long been found in some wild deer in the southern half of Wisconsin, but Cornicelli said the approximate distance between the infected Minnesota animal and the nearest Wisconsin deer found to have CWD was about 150 miles.

DNR and state public health officials were in the Pine Island area Friday morning contacting landowners. Next week the DNR will begin aerial surveys over a region within about a 10-mile radius of where the animal was killed to estimate the number of deer there.

Fixed-winged aircraft will be used initially to find concentrations of deer. Then helicopters will be employed to finalize the population survey.

Researchers and deer managers will establish the area as a CWD-infected zone and finalize a plan that will include killing and sampling a portion of deer there to see if the disease has spread.

Recreational deer feeding within the infected zone will be banned by DNR rule, Cornicelli said.

It’s possible the public will be asked to help kill deer in the area, Cornicelli said. Or DNR sharpshooters will be employed.

Given the difficulty of culling a large enough sample of deer to test, Cornicelli said, it’s likely “as many deer as possible’’ will be killed for testing.

Landowners in the area will have the final determination whether to allow hunting or sharpshooting on their property, said Ed Boggess, acting DNR fish and wildlife division director.

“This is very unfortunate,” said Tom Landwehr, DNR commissioner. “Minnesotans have done much to prevent CWD from entering our wild deer population. The good news is that we are well prepared for an attempt to control the disease and to possibly eliminate it.”

Though all elk have been removed from the Pine Island farm, and the area remains encircled by a high fence, some white-tailed deer have been found within its confines.

But all of those deer are believed to have been killed, said Dr. Paul Anderson of the Minnesota state board of animal health.

“The fence is in good condition,’’ Anderson said. “If deer got in there it’s probably because a gate had been left open. To our knowledge, they’ve all been killed.’’

Cattle are kept inside the fences now, but cattle are not known to be susceptible to CWD.

In deer and elk, CWD can be transmitted by animal-to-animal contact, and can also be picked up from soil and the urine or feces of infected animals.

In Wisconsin, CWD appears to be endemic in some regions among its wild deer, and wildlife officials there have not been able to eliminate it, possibly because it was discovered after too many animals had been infected.

But in New York, after one animal was found with CWD, further testing has discovered no other infected deer, Cornicelli said.

“If I had to put my money on it, our situation would be closer to New York’s than Wisconsin’s,’’ Cornicelli said. “It wasn’t like we just found it. We’ve been doing extensive testing for years, and this is the only deer we’ve determined to be infected.’’

The DNR has been on the lookout for CWD since 2002, when it was first detected at a domestic elk farm in central Minnesota. In recent years it has put additional focus on southeastern Minnesota. The domestic elk herd at Pine Island was eliminated after a seven-year-old female was found to have CWD. Three other elk were found to have CWD during the removal effort.

[Dave S]

depending on which direction from Pine Island where this deer was shot, it could be within 6 miles of where I hunt. If worst comes to worst, I will focus on putting the smack on the turkeys on this property and find somewhere else to deer hunt.

[someday]

Channel 10 coverage said the deer was shot 3 miles South West of the Elk farm

[hockeybc69]

someday,

So what does this potentially do to Resolution No.: 2010-225.

I dont think the farmers are gonna potentially be driving Hummers now.

Good thing is, APR might be trumped for you as well.

[someday]

A Rochester Post-Bulletin article said the DNR would likely work with local land owners to reduce the herd. If they don't find any more positive deer say within 10 miles the rest of the area should be on a wait and see. It will take a few years but with the habitat in the Zumbro watershed deer should come back stronger than ever. Guess I won't have to worry about hitting them with cars just shooting a few dozen.

[Tom7227]

Mr. Cornicelli was on Almanac tonight and said that he hoped they were finding the CWD early before it was very widespread, and since they have been testing deer in that area for (I think he said 5 years) that he expected they were on the early side of things. He said that WI was late in finding it and so the infected deer were in a wider geographic area. He said that you shouldn't eat the meat if the deer appeared ill such as frequent urination, lethargic, or ears down. I think he also said there was no known case of CWD being transmitted to humans through eating but I am not totally sure of that. He said that as long as you were cautious in dealing with the animals by using gloves etc. the risk was small.

I am sure there will be tons of info on this over the next days and weeks with specific advice on what to do with the meat if you got a deer from that area.

[hockeybc69]

Quote:

I am sure there will be tons of info on this over the next days and weeks with specific advice on what to do with the meat if you got a deer from that area.

All I know is if this gets to our area, I wont be eating deer for a lonnnnggg time.

Some scary stuff. I dont care if "studies" show its not transferrable to humans through consumption.

[jwmiller33]

Does anyone know why they think this deer has CWD? it said "preliminary tests" show that a doe carried the disease. All it really says in the article is the guy thought it "appeared thin" when he shot it, but wasn't acting with any type of unusual behavior. They were quoted in the article saying it's possible but not likely the lab will find the deer wasn't affected. The article said "very little" of the meat was eaten by the hunter and family, which means they ate some. So they obviously weren't deterred from eating it via the look of the meat or how the deer looked/acted prior to being killed.

So what exactly are these preliminary tests that indicate this doe carried CWD? All of the evidence laid before me in that article doesn't sound like they have any evidence to suggest the doe carried CWD.... Did the guy who shot it think the venison tasted bad and he thought the deer must have been diseased? Someone just fill me in, because I feel like I am missing something

[zepman]

JWMiller...

November 28th was the day the animal was killed and I also believe that was the last day of the 3B shotgun season. If the archer registered the deer that day, I would bet $$$ the DNR was at the place of registration taking samples for testing.

Over the past 5-7 years I have had every one of my deer sampled by the DNR at registration sites...Chatfield to be exact. There is usually a crew present at these sites and they do a very good job asking if they can test your deer...I've always agreed.

I sure hope this is an isolated case.

[96trigger]

Keep a level head about this everyone. The DNR has a plan implemented. Its on their HSOforum. We as hunters need to spread the word and educate without creating panic. The worst thing that you can do is sit down with your hunting parties and speculate without knowing the facts. This can cause a frenzy of misinformation and panic. I believe that if you are on this forum and monitoring this thread you are a fairly intelligent and educated individual. Do what you can to get ALL the facts and know what they are. Stop rumors when you hear them. Stay in the loop as much as possible.

It is one deer of thousands, that was found close to an elk farm that was eradicated because of CWD. It is not surprising that one eventually turned up. Hunters and trail cams catch pictures of a lot of deer, I have not seen one yet that showed a deer in ill health.

Yes, this could be the start of something larger, or it could just be an isolated incident. I truly hope (and pray) that it is isolated.

I am hoping that I can continue to read and monitor this thread without hearing any snide comments about trophy hunters, meat hunters, APR or the like. There is no time for that now, or place for that on this thread, and if you want, start another thread on it. Thanks, I appreciate it, great comments so far.

[PostFrontal]

Interesting what they are saying now, as compared to this..

http://outdoornews.com/minnesota/news/article_3bcfb472-ecff-11df-815c-001cc4c03286.html

Excerpts:

""Posted: Thursday, November 11, 2010 12:00 pm

Elk ‘depopulation’ bill approaching $1 million By Tim Spielman Associate Editor Outdoor News, Inc | 0 comments

Groups still concerned about deer movement into contaminated former elk farm

Rochester, Minn. — A year after a herd of nearly 560 elk in southeastern Minnesota was euthanized because of chronic wasting disease concerns, reports indicate white-tailed deer continue to come and go from the still-fenced site near Pine Island, now considered contaminated by the cervid disease.

The responsibility to eliminate invading deer immediately falls to Tower Investments, LLC, the owner and developer of the property once owned and operated as Elk Country U.S.A., along Hwy. 52. But if company officials are unable to kill those deer, DNR personnel are called in to shoot the deer, according to Don Nelson, DNR area wildlife manager in nearby Rochester.

He said two deer were shot and killed within the fences around the property last winter; those animals tested negative for CWD at the state diagnostics lab in St. Paul, Nelson added.

Mark Johnson, executive director of the Minnesota Deer Hunters Association, said there have been other instances of the area’s security being compromised by deer. DNR veterinarians, too, have been told of similar incidents...

...Still, according to the MDHA’s Johnson, the existing fences, based on reports received by various government agencies, don’t appear adequate to keep deer from breaching the barrier.

“My understanding is they’re going over the fences, not through the gates,” he said last week.

He called the situation “unfortunate and dangerous, from a wildlife standpoint.”

Butler said DNR veterinarians, too, had received similar notifications. “We’ve had reports of fences down, and deer within the fences,” she said.""

[mitch]

jwmiller33

The article says preliminary tests on the deer show it has the disease. The additional testing will more than likely confirm the initial tests. The article also says that it can take 4 years for deer to show signs of CWD. So a deer could be infected without showing obvious signs of the disease.

[jwmiller33]

Mitch, I know the article said the preliminary tests showed the dear carried the disease. My question was, what exactly these preliminary tests are, because as I said before, it sounded like there was nothing to show as if the deer was a carrier. The hunter and his family even ate some of the deer, which tells me they weren't deterred by how the meat looked or how the deer looked/acted prior to its death. Thankfully Zepman filled me in that the DNR was at the place of registration when the deer was registered and took a sample. Thats all I was asking.