DNR to host public meeting this Thursday to discuss results, future plans for CWD surveillance efforts

Following the collection of more than 100 deer as part of the Iowa Department of Natural Resources (DNR) surveillance effort looking for chronic wasting disease (CWD) near Harpers Ferry in late February and early March, the DNR has now scheduled a public meeting to discuss the results of that harvest and testing effort, as well as to solicit input and begin planning for continued surveillance this summer and fall. The DNR has scheduled that public meeting for Thursday, April 16 in Harpers Ferry's Ethel Robinson Meehan Community Center, located at 238 North Fourth Street, beginning at 6:30 p.m.
Tissue samples from 85 of the adult deer collected during that intensified late winter harvest were sent to the National Veterinary Services Lab in Ames for testing and all 85 samples came back as not detected. All collectors have been notified of those results.
The four Allamakee samples which prompted this most recent special collection - one detected in 2013 and the other three this past deer hunting season in 2014 - are the only CWD-positive returns from 55,000 samples of wild Iowa deer taken since 2002. DNR officials say the additional data collected from this special harvest is important to determine the next course of action to slow the spread of CWD in Iowa.
For additional information about Thursday's meeting or the DNR's continued surveillance efforts in regard to CWD in Allamakee County and the state of Iowa, contact Terry Haindfield, Iowa DNR wildlife biologist in northeast Iowa, at 563-546-7960.