Last February, the MN Board of Animal Health and the MN DNR confirmed that Chronic Wasting Disease was the cause of the death of a deer that was recovered near a 112 acre deer farm near Merrifield in Crow Wing County.
There are about 390 captive deer and elk farms in MN. In April, the deer in the farm near Merrifield was closed, all the deer were killed and are being tested for CWD. In addition, about 80 deer were killed within a two mile radius of the farm and are also being tested.
Prior to that, most of the cases of Chronic Wasting Disease in MN have turned up in southeastern MN near Wisconsin, where CWD is much more widespread.
There are five bills before the MN Legislature now that address a variety of ways to contain the spread of CWD in MN. One goal is to find a better way to test for the presence of CWD in deer. Right now it takes two weeks or longer to determine if a deer is infected.
One of the bills is sponsored by Republican Senator Carrie Ruud from Breezy Point she represents MN Senate District 10 that includes Crow Wing and Aitkin County.
She chairs the Senate Environment and Natural Resource Policy and Legacy Finance Committee. Her bill addresses fencing requirements for deer farms.
Today we welcomed back Senator Carrie Ruud.
