Game and Fish sets public meetings in Fargo, Dickinson and Minot to discuss CWD in North Dakota

Aug. 8—BISMARCK — The North Dakota Game and Fish Department will host public meetings this month in Fargo, Dickinson and Minot to discuss chronic wasting disease in the state.

The three meetings are set for Monday, Aug. 22, at the Fargo Holiday Inn, 3803 13th Ave. S.; Wednesday, Aug. 24, at the Grand Dakota Lodge, 532 15th St. W., Dickinson; and Monday, Aug. 29, at the Grand Hotel, 1505 N. Broadway, Minot. All three of the meetings will begin at 7 p.m. local time.

"Chronic wasting disease presents serious concerns for the long-term health of our big game populations," Casey Anderson, wildlife division chief for Game and Fish in Bismarck, said in a statement. "While the status of this disease has changed considerably in North Dakota over the past two decades, we've also learned a lot."

Since last year, an intradepartmental CWD Task Force has been conducting a situational analysis of the issue, culminating in an updated plan for how it intends to manage the disease in North Dakota.

The meetings will include a formal presentation on history, current status and the future of CWD in North Dakota, after which department staff will be available to visit individually with people who have questions and/or comments.

North Dakota's first cases of CWD, a brain disease fatal to deer, elk and moose, were confirmed in 2009 in unit 3F2 of southwestern North Dakota. Since then, the disease has been confirmed in 70 wild deer, including 26 deer that tested positive during the 2021 hunting season — 14 from hunting unit 3F2, eight from unit 3A1 and one from unit 3B1. Single positive deer also were found in units 3C, 3D1 and 3E2 where the disease had not been previously detected.

CWD has never been documented in a North Dakota deer hunting unit along the Red River, but a whitetail buck shot in October 2021 near Climax, Minnesota, during the youth deer season unexpectedly tested positive after the parent of the youth hunter voluntarily had the deer tested. As a result of its proximity to the positive Minnesota case, Game and Fish has implemented a baiting ban in unit 2B for the upcoming deer season.

More info:

gf.nd.gov/wildlife/diseases/cwd

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