The Minnesota Department of Natural Resources has added two Northern Minnesota counties to a deer feeding and attractant ban.
The ban now extends to Becker and Clearwater counties.
The intent of the ban is to reduce the risk of chronic wasting disease spread, following detections of CWD in wild deer in new areas of the state last year. Feeding encourages deer to unnaturally congregate, which can increase the likelihood of transmission if a deer is infected.
The other new counties are Grant, McLeod and Meeker.
These counties join 32 others: Aitkin, Anoka, Beltrami, Carver, Cass, Clay, Crow Wing, Dakota, Dodge, Fillmore, Goodhue, Hennepin, Houston, Hubbard, Itasca, Le Sueur, Mower, Norman, Olmsted, Polk, Ramsey, Rice, Scott, Sherburne, Sibley, Steele, Traverse, Wabasha, Washington, Wilkin, Winona and Wright counties.
Even in areas outside the ban, the DNR discourages people from feeding deer.
"People interested in helping deer should focus efforts on improving habitat to provide long-term food resources and shelter," a DNR news release stated.
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