DNR: 5 deer from CWD-positive farm received in Minnesota in 2016, 2017
[courtesy of viewer Bob Diepenbrock]
Two Minnesota deer farms received deer from a chronic wasting disease-positive farm in Wisconsin several years ago, the Minnesota Department of Natural Resources said Tuesday.
The DNR said it learned of the news Monday. CWD wasn’t discovered at the Wisconsin farm until last month.
According to the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel, the Wisconsin farm sold nearly 400 deer to 40 farms across seven states over the past five years.
Two deer were received by a Stillwater farm in 2016. That farm is now out of business, and the deer were moved to another farm in Grand Meadow in early 2019. Later that year, they were moved to another farm in Wisconsin, but the DNR said it’s working to determine the status of those deer.
A Clear Lake farm received three deer from the Wisconsin farm in 2017. Two of those deer died earlier this year and CWD wasn’t detected, the DNR said. The third deer is still alive but hasn’t yet been tested. However, that entire herd is quarantined.
"The news that Minnesota deer farms imported deer from a Wisconsin farm infected with CWD is extremely concerning," DNR Commissioner Sarah Strommen said. "The DNR is actively considering management responses to this latest threat to Minnesota’s wild deer."