Chronic wasting disease (CWD) is a fatal condition that can be found in white-tail deer. It has recently been discovered in a captive deer in Beltrami County. The remaining captive deer in the herd were depopulated by the USDA, who found that 12 additional deer tested positive for the disease and that CWD had likely been present on the farm since 2019. The effects of CWD can be devastating.

The animals found with CWD were initially from a deer farm but were moved after their death. The land where the deer were moved to is owned by Beltrami County.

The Bureau of Animal Health (BAH) is currently conducting an investigation into the farm where the deer were from. The county is working with multiple agencies to try to stop the disease from spreading further.

Beltrami County is looking to build a fence that will cover about 12 acres of land and hopes to ensure that CWD will not spread into the wild population in the area. The Minnesota Department of Natural Resources has also issued an emergency rule to temporarily prohibit the movement of farmed white-tailed deer.

The county hopes to have construction on the fence completed within the next couple of weeks.

By — Betsy Melin