So far, the news on chronic wasting disease in Minnesota remains good.
Test results on nearly 2,000 deer samples collected from Minnesota hunters this fall have been received, and none tested positive for chronic wasting disease, DNR officials reported. Those samples include 498 of the 528 collected for hunters by veterinarians.
Officials collected about 4,500 samples from selected deer registration stations, in addition to those collected by the veterinarians. Test results for the remaining 3,000 samples are expected by the end of the month.
"Even if we get through all 4,500 samples and none test positive, that's good news, but people have got to put it into context," said the DNR's Mike DonCarlos. "We've only looked at 10 percent of our deer population. If it [CWD] is out there, it likely will be in a cluster, in a low prevalence and hard to detect. Negatives are good news, but we've got a lot more work to do."
The DNR intends to sample more deer in different areas this fall. |
