Click here for Mobile Site: http://m.wcco.com
  • Font Size    

Extra Special Pets & Animals

Puppy Bowl VI 'Pawticipants'
E-mail

Close Window E-mail This Page

Elk Herd In SE Minn. Shot To Control CWD

Required fields are marked with an asterisk(*)

The information you provide will be used only to send the requested e-mail and will not be used to send any other e-mail communications. Read more in our Privacy Policy

Send E-mail

   Print     Share +   
Oct 30, 2009 7:58 pm US/Central

Elk Herd In SE Minn. Shot To Control CWD

ROCHESTER, Minn. (AP) ― State officials say tests found three more elk tested positive for chronic wasting disease in a herd near Rochester.

Sharpshooters killed the farm herd of about 560 elk last month after one of the animals tested positive for the disease in January.

The animals lived on a 1,300-acre elk farm near Pine Island. Officials say after a female elk tested positive for CWD, the remaining elk in the herd were removed to prevent the disease from spreading to other farmed deer or elk or wild deer in the area.

Sharpshooters from a U.S. Department of Agriculture division euthanized the animals. Samples were tested at a USDA lab in Ames, Iowa.

Chronic wasting disease is fatal to elk and deer. There's no evidence that it can spread to people.

Information from: Star Tribune

-------

CWD can cause small lesions in the brains of animals with the disease, which can cause body and behavior changes and death.

(© 2010 CBS Broadcasting Inc. All Rights Reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed. The Associated Press contributed to this report.)

© MMX, CBS Broadcasting Inc. All Rights Reserved.