Iowa DNR Virtual Meeting on Deer Chronic Wasting Disease Thursday (12.05) Night

The Iowa DNR is holding a virtual public meeting Thursday (12.05) to update statewide efforts to track and manage chronic wasting disease in deer.

Iowa is in its 23rd year of monitoring for chronic wasting disease and Iowa’s deer hunters have played a significant role in this effort by providing more than 100,000 tissue samples for testing. The DNR has been tracking the presence of chronic wasting disease since the first positive deer was found in Allamakee County in 2013.

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. 

Ruden adds, “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 the public meeting will discuss ways for hunters to prevent the spread of the disease. She notes that deer pass the disease to each other when in close contact. 

Meanwhile, the verdict on whether you can get the disease from eating infected venison is still out. She says the CDC guidance is to not eat the meat if you know the animal is infected.

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. 

Pre-registration is preferred for the Zoom meeting starting at 7 pm Thursday.