The Assistant Director of the Board of Animal Health in Minnesota, Paul Anderson who is also a veterinarian assures that no elk have left the quarentined cervid farm in Olmstead County where the recent case of CWD was found. In a statement to the Pioneer Press’ Twin Cities.com Mr. Anderson stated,
“… no animals have left the affected farm north of Rochester except to be slaughtered and no new ones have been brought in. With these prion diseases, which have long incubation periods, in most cases it’s very difficult to figure out when or how they were infected…The state has 650 farms that have about 20,000 deer, elk or other cervidae on them. ”
This is a big industry in Minnesota which boasts the largest cervid farming industry in the nation. The Elk Country U.S.A. farm has 1000 elk alone. In previous cases where CWD was found to be present the entire herd had to be destroyed. If this is the case Elk Country U.S.A. stands to loose a tremendous amount of money. According to the Minnesota Elk Breeders classified section on their website, a female elk is worth anywhere from $900 to $1250 each! No information was available for bulls, which can bring an even bigger price tag. Trophy elk bull hunts can go from $2000 to more than $7500 for each bull. So one can see that this farm has the potential to loose a tremendous amount of money.
Minnesota elk breeders and farmers have to follow a strict set of testing rules. According to the Minnesota Board of Animal Health each farm must:
All cervidae, including animals imported for slaughter purposes, must be from herds under state approved CWD surveillance for at least three years. No importation is allowed from infected or exposed herds or from the following known endemic areas.
They must also: Farm owners are required to take part in testing elk and deer over 16 months when one has been slaughtered or deceased. Minnesota is taking the precautions to keep CWD in check and requires all farms and breeders to follow these guidelines to make sure it doesn’t become a problem. Here is a link to other requirements of cervid farmers.
In an interview with KTTC TV in Rochester Minnesota, Jim Byrne the President of the Minnesota Elk Breeders Association said, everyone complies with mandated tests to keep the disease out of farms.
“We don’t want it in our herds; we do not tolerate it in our herds. And you know, we insist that there is 100% compliance with all cervidae breeders. That’s both deer and elk” …”In Minnesota, it says the program is working and it’s working well. We’re able to pick up these small cases that have it and we’re able to eliminate it from our herds.”
This is only the third instance of CWD in Minnesota bringing the total to 6 animals infected with CWD since 2002 when the CWD guidelines and montoring were put into place. Let’s hope this is an isolated case and nothing further will come of the case. We will stay on top of the story and report when more information becomes available.
