A wild deer was confirmed positive for chronic wasting disease in Dakota County, marking the first detection of the fatal neurological disease in this area of the state, the Minnesota Department of Natural Resources said Friday.
A resident near Farmington reported that the adult male deer was displaying neurological symptoms. The animal was tested as part of the DNR’s risk-based disease surveillance program. The area is about 100 miles north of the state’s primary CWD area near Preston.
“An informed citizen did the right thing by calling DNR, which allowed us to identify and remove this deer from the landscape,” Lou Cornicelli, the DNR’s wildlife research manager, said in a statement. “We’re hopeful the disease is not widespread in the area.”
The state’s board of animal health, which oversees farmed deer and elk in the state, will expand an endemic boundary 15 miles around the area because of the new detection.
In the short term, the DNR is developing plans to sample deer opportunistically until the fall hunting season, and will prohibit recreational deer feeding.
CWD is a fatal disease in deer and elk caused by prions, which can damage brain and nerve tissue. The disease is most likely transmitted when infected deer and elk shed prions in saliva, feces, urine, and other fluids or tissues.
Also on Friday, the board of animal health said test results from the depopulation of a Pine County deer farm have confirmed four additional cases CWD. The first CWD positive animals at this farm were confirmed in January 2020, resulting in depopulation of the herd.
