Rochester Post-Bulletin: For hunters and deer watchers, better safe than sorry

Doug Smith, Star Tribune

By FROM AN EDITORIAL IN THE ROCHESTER POST-BULLETIN

Last update: November 5, 2009 - 10:22 AM

We now have conclusive proof that the Minnesota Board of Animal Health, the U.S. Department of Agriculture and everyone involved were wise to take the unpleasant yet safe course -- destroying 560 elk near Rochester that may have been exposed to chronic wasting disease.

We learned Friday that three of these animals tested positive for the always-fatal brain-wasting disease. When you add the cow elk that tested positive earlier this year, nearly 1 percent of the herd was infected.

With the firearms deer hunting season set to begin Saturday, the area around the proposed Elk Run biobusiness park will be under heavy scrutiny. The Department of Natural Resources will be at deer registration stations in this region to obtain tissue samples from hunter-harvested deer. Participation is voluntary, but we encourage hunters to do their part.

Since 2002, CWD has been found on three other farms across the state, and each time the DNR did massive testing of wild deer from that vicinity. So far, not a single wild deer has tested positive, and everyone is hoping for the same results this time around.

The stakes are high. Roughly 500,000 deer hunters will be in Minnesota's forests, fields, pastures, swamps and woodlots when the sun comes up on Saturday, and the average orange-clad enthusiast spends $500 each year on gas, ammunition, weapons, lodging, food, clothing and deer processing.

There is another step people can take to keep our deer healthy: Don't feed them.

We understand the temptation. But setting food out results in unnaturally high concentrations of deer that can easily spread disease through nose-to-nose contact at the feeding trough.

The best way to protect them is to let them fend for themselves, as nature intended.

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