Central Minnesota fights with disposal of deer with CWD

Published 8:22 am Wednesday, October 9, 2019

BRAINERD — Wildlife officials in central Minnesota are discovering it’s not easy to get rid of deer carcasses infected with chronic wasting disease.

Minnesota has been wrestling with the disease since 2016, when it was first confirmed in wild herds in the southeastern corner of the state. This year, the ailment was confirmed in a wild deer in Crow Wing County north of the Twin Cities, the first case outside of the state’s southeastern region. Now every deer shot within a 13-mile radius must be tested.

The discovery has created myriad questions about what the county should do with infected carcasses.

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Legislators have set aside $50,000 to set up dumpsters. The Minnesota Department of Natural Resources is supposed to empty the dumpsters and take the carcasses to landfills.