DNR to collect samples from harvested deer in selected areas of state

Media contact: Michelle Powell, wildlife health program coordinator, DNR Division of Fish and Wildlife, (651) 296-2663.

The Minnesota Department of Natural Resources (DNR) will collect tissue samples for disease monitoring from deer harvested during the firearm season in selected areas of the state this fall.

To fulfill a requirement for reinstating Minnesota’s bovine tuberculosis (TB) free status, the U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) is requiring a one-time collection of 4,000 samples from hunter-harvested deer in selected areas of the state outside the bovine TB-infected area in northwestern Minnesota. In addition, 1,000 deer will be sampled within the bovine TB area. In conjunction with that effort, DNR will also test some samples for Chronic Wasting Disease (CWD).

“We’re taking advantage of the requirement for bovine TB surveillance to do additional screening for CWD,” said Michelle Powell, DNR Wildlife Health Program coordinator. “Since we have staff in the field to collect bovine TB samples, it’s prudent, particularly along the Wisconsin border, to screen for CWD as well.”

The sampling of 4,000 deer will occur statewide, but will be concentrated more heavily in the northern half of Minnesota, based on deer densities and proximity to the bovine TB-infected area. Samples collected in southern Minnesota will be screened for both CWD and bovine TB.

BOVINE TB TESTING

In January, Minnesota lost its bovine TB free status after the disease was discovered in cattle and free-ranging deer in northwestern Minnesota. A cooperative effort among DNR, the Minnesota Board of Animal Health and the USDA is aimed at regaining the state’s TB-free status as soon as possible.

“We don’t expect to find bovine TB in deer tested outside the northwest surveillance zone,” Powell said. “However, this sampling effort is required by the USDA to verify that deer are not a potential reservoir of bovine TB.”

Bovine TB is a bacterial disease that primarily affects cattle; however, other animals may become infected. It is known to occur in Michigan deer but does not persist in deer anywhere else in the United States. Cooking meat to an internal temperature of 165 degrees destroys the bacteria. When field dressing all game, the DNR recommends the use of gloves to prevent exposure to a number of diseases, including salmonella and E. coli.

CWD TESTING Since 2002, the DNR has tested approximately 28,000 hunter-harvested deer statewide for CWD and all samples have been negative for the disease. For more than five years, the DNR has also been testing “suspect” deer that are found sick or displaying symptoms consistent with CWD, all of which have been negative.

Last spring, a CWD-positive captive deer was discovered in Lac qui Parle County. This captive herd has been depopulated and no additional infected animals were found.

However, DNR wants to ensure the wild deer in the surrounding area are healthy by conducting CWD surveillance during the fall firearms season. The DNR is hoping to collect 400 samples in that area of southwestern Minnesota.

DNR will collect additional samples for CWD testing in other areas of the state, in conjunction with other scheduled deer research and disease testing.

CWD is a transmissible spongiform encephalopathy caused by an abnormal protein (prion) that replicates and accumulates in nervous and lymphatic tissue. Although CWD has been known to exist since 1967, there has never been a reported case of CWD in people or cattle.

Meat from deer or elk should be safe to eat, according to officials at the Minnesota Department of Health, provided hunters take the following precautions:

- don’t eat meat from animals that look sick or ill

- don’t eat the brain, spinal cord, eyes, spleen, tonsils and lymph nodes

- dress the animal properly – minimize handling of brain and spinal tissues, wear

- rubber gloves when field dressing carcasses, and wash hands and instruments thoroughly after field dressing.