KDSN RADIO News
DNR holding virtual meeting Thursday on CWD in deer
The Iowa Department of Natural Resources is holding a virtual public meeting Thursday to give an update on statewide efforts to track and manage chronic wasting disease in deer.
State Wildlife Veterinarian Rachel Ruden says 25 of the 99 counties in the state have a confirmed case of CWD, with over half of those counties with just one detection
“That could be an indication of almost good news, you know, that the disease really hasn’t seeded in those areas that we’re seeing detections due to dispersal events, or, you know, other sources that might introduce disease to a new area,” she says.
Dr. Ruden says they will discuss those counties at their meeting. “Those areas, those 13 counties, are really prime locations to intervene early and to prevent the disease from spreading further, so that’s what we’ll really be focusing on in this meeting,” Ruden says. She says they’ll discuss ways for hunters to prevent the spread of the disease.
“Be aware of how you’re handling, your deer carcass, especially if you don’t know the test results or that deer hasn’t been tested,” she says. We really don’t want those animal parts to end up on the landscape to, you know, cause a new outbreak location.”
Dr. Ruden says people often try to help the deer in the cold weather, but some of their actions can hurt them. “The people who are putting out mineral or feed to kind of support the wildlife, and specifically to support deer, those are places where deer will congregate, and that’s a really prime area to then spread disease,” she says. Ruden says the deer pass the disease to each other when in close contact.
She says the verdict on whether you can get the disease from eating infected venison is still out. “Lot of people think it might just affect the brain or affect the lymph node, which is actually what we test to screen for this disease. And that’s true, that’s where the pathogen or the prion proteins will accumulate or have the highest concentration, but it does get out into the meat as well,” Ruden says. She says the CDC guidance is to not eat the meat if you know the animal is infected.
Ruden says they would like you to sign up for the meeting.”We do want people to register ahead of time so they have access to the meeting we always post the recording afterward on our website and our YouTube channel, so it will be available if people can’t attend in person, and that’s totally fine. The material will be there for reference in the future,” she says. The meeting is Thursday at 7 p.m.
Ruden says this is the fifth year for a virtual public meeting on the topic and hunters, landowners, those who eat venison, or anyone else is welcome to watch and learn what’s happening in the state.
