Deer experts, DNR disagree on approach to CWD

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CHATFIELD -- Spark or fire?

More than 200 people gathered Wednesday in Chatfield's Potter Auditorium for a presentation and discussion of chronic wasting disease in deer and how Minnesota is responding to the outbreak in Southeast Minnesota. After three hours, one key question dominated all others: Is Minnesota dealing with a small "spark-up" of CWD that could be eliminated by aggressive action? Or is the CWD outbreak already a "fire" that will never be extinguished?

The event, sponsored by the Minnesota Deer Farmers Association and the Iowa Deer Farmers Association, featured Dr. James Kroll, professor emeritus of forest wildlife management at Stephen F. Austin State University in Texas, and Dr. Clifford F. Shipley, of the University of Illinois College of Veterinary Medicine.

Neither pulled their punches when asked what the future holds for southeastern Minnesota now that eight wild deer have tested positive for CWD.

"It's endemic," Shipley said. "It's in the wild population. The genie is out of the bottle. Maybe you can eradicate it here for five years. Or 10 years. Or 20. But it's coming back. I can unequivocally guarantee that."

Kroll agreed. "Eradication has never worked," he said. "Ten years from now, the situation is not going to have changed much at all."

Lessons from Wisconsin

Kroll, who long has argued that CWD actually poses little threat to the nation's deer herd, is a veteran of the CWD wars. He was hired by Wisconsin Gov. Scott Walker in 2011 to oversee and evaluate the effectiveness of that state's 10-year fight against CWD. Under his leadership, Wisconsin gave up fighting the main "fire" areas hit hardest by CWD and instead focused on detecting and attempting to extinguish new "spark-ups" of the disease in previously unaffected regions.

The Minnesota DNR is spearheading a more aggressive approach in the Preston/Lanesboro area. More than 1,000 deer have been shot since Dec. 31 in an attempt to determine the extent of the disease and to reduce the probability that it will spread — an approach Kroll says cost tens of millions of dollars in Wisconsin and ultimately proved ineffective.

Several members of the audience asked Kroll and Shipley whether Minnesota is dealing with a "fire" or a "spark."

"Killing 1,000 deer is not fighting a spark," Kroll responded. "One thousand deer is not a spark."

But in an interview after the meeting, DNR Wildlife Research Manager Lou Cornicelli said Kroll misrepresented what's happening in the CWD zone.

"You kill the 1,000 deer to help determine whether you're dealing with a spark or a fire," Cornicelli said. "You detect, you investigate and then you concentrate your efforts. Those 1,000 deer were spread out over 500 square miles, so that's about two deer per square mile. That let us determine that we probably have an infection in a localized area, so now we can concentrate our efforts on that area. And we're going to do that."

Kroll also suggested when a CWD outbreak is discovered, state officials shouldn't necessarily be the ones who determine the course of action.

"What I would do in the places where these deer have been found, I'd get the local people involved," he said. "I'd get out there with them, say 'Hey, here are some ideas. What do you think we can do?'"

Cornicelli agreed, but only up to a certain point.

"I think it's extraordinarily important to get the local community engaged, and I think we're doing a good job doing that," he said. "But do you relinquish management control to private entities? No. That's what they do in Texas, where individuals control tens of thousands of acres of land behind high fences. Here, we bring people along and engage with them, but ultimately it's the agency that has to make the decisions. Deer are a public resource in Minnesota, so we can't relinquish that decision-making authority."

Despite these disagreements, Kroll didn't entirely discount the DNR's efforts to combat CWD. "It's worth trying," he said. "Every case is different. I don't think we should do nothing."

Cornicelli and Kroll agreed that when an outbreak of CWD can be narrowed down to specific family groups of deer in a small area, it's wise to attempt to eradicate those groups.

Jim Byrne, an elk farmer from Pine Island and president of the Minnesota Elk Breeders Association, said he was encouraged by the meeting.

"I think Dr. Kroll and Dr. Shipley did a very good job of covering everything without playing the blame game," he said. "They turned it around and said CWD is the responsibility of everyone who is interested in deer to join the effort to get this under control."

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Deer experts, DNR disagree on approach to CWD