Chronic wasting deer discovered in 14 deer, including ones in Allamakee and Clayton counties

Posted: Fri, Jan 11, 2019 2:31 PM

The Iowa DNR reports that Chronic Wasting Disease has been confirmed in 14 Iowa deer, including eight positive deer in Allamakee County and four in Clayton County.

More than 6,800 tissue samples have been collected during the 2018 deer season. The DNR contacted each hunter whose deer tested positive and offered to collect the meat and any remaining bones and tissue. Hunters turned over the meat in every case. The collected material was bagged, sealed, then disposed in a local landfill.

Chronic wasting disease was first confirmed in the Midwest in Wisconsin in 2001 about 75 miles from the Iowa state line. The Iowa DNR began monitoring for the disease in 2002 with an emphasis on counties nearest Wisconsin and Minnesota. The DNR has tested more than 74,000 deer since that time. The disease was first confirmed in Iowa near Harpers Ferry in Allamakee County in 2013.