A tweet by Roseville DFL state representative Jamie Becker-Finn reminded Bluestem Prairie that we need to update reader about Chronic Wasting Disease (CWD) test results submitted by whitetail deer hunters in zones where CWD has been found.

24 positive #CWD cases in southern MN CWD management & control zones so far this year in wild deer (one was a “found dead” but was in same region as other positives).🦌☠️ pic.twitter.com/9Vy8Vvq5dp — Jamie Becker-Finn (@jbeckerfinn) December 19, 2019

There's also more news to report about the case in a captive does that we reported in MN Board of Animal Health: CWD confirmed in small Douglas County hobby farm deer herd .

Our last article about the test results from hunters' sample was Update: MN chronic wasting disease positive results rise to 13; map of special hunt, posted on December 7.

Looking at the Minnesota Department of Natural Resources CWD test result page, we see:

Regulatory capture, the Animal Board of Health, and the Douglas County deer

At the St. Paul Pioneer Press, Dave Orrick reported on Sunday in Regulators to deer farmers: Stop moving deer around (please):

Minnesota regulators have asked the state’s deer farmers to stop transporting deer in and out of their farms for a month while investigators trace a new case of chronic wasting disease on a deer farm in western Minnesota.

Compliance with the Board of Animal Health’s decision Wednesday would be voluntary among the state’s 330 deer farmers.

The five-member board considered putting the whole state on mandatory lockdown for whitetails, but members voted down that idea following objections from deer farmers, opening the board to criticism from at least one lawmaker as leaders struggle with how strong a hand to take in trying to prevent the spread of the always-fatal and incurable deer disease. . . .

As CWD cases continue to surface in Minnesota, officials have been increasingly scrutinizing the deer farming industry. While some farmers primarily raise captive deer to sell as commercial venison, much of the industry has developed around raising deer for “genetics,” which is tradespeak for large bucks with enormous antlers unlike those ever found in the wild. The animals can be displayed at shows, sold or rented for breeding, or shot on the farms by paying customers, a practice that is controversial within hunting circles.

The selective breeding often involves farmers transporting deer throughout the state and the nation — creating unnatural vectors for the disease to spread.

The 8-year-old doe that tested positive in Douglas County wasn’t born there, raising the specter that it became infected at another farm, said Dr. Beth Thompson, the state veterinarian who serves as executive director of the Board of Animal Health. The board, part of the state Department of Agriculture, regulates livestock, including farmed deer.

“That was my concern, and after a quick overview of the paperwork … we learned that this herd is connected to five or six additional herds outside the county,” Thompson said.That means that in recent years, the Douglas County farm and five or six other deer farms have transported animals back and forth. . .

Thompson and her staff recommended that the Board of Animal Health use a state provision that allows them create “disease control zones.” They recommended making the entire state such a zone for about a month for whitetail deer, which would have prohibited any farm from moving deer on or off its property.

Thompson said she didn’t realize the effect that could have on deer farmers.

“That designation would have a long-lasting impact on every farm in the state, even if they had nothing to do with any case of CWD,” said Tim Spreck, a lobbyist for the the Minnesota Deer Farmers Association. Spreck and several deer farmers brought their concerns to the board’s meeting Wednesday.

The designation, they told the board — and Thompson later confirmed — could have had the effect of a scarlet letter on all Minnesota farms, meaning some states would forever prohibit the importation of deer from Minnesota, significantly hampering the farmers’ ability to participate in the breeding business. . . .

Read more of the details in Orrick's story. And that critical lawmaker?:

For state Rep. Rick Hansen, DFL-South St. Paul, who has called for stricter rules on deer farms, the board sided with an industry at the expense of wildlife. “This is an example of an agency unable to respond to the facts,” Hansen said. “This is protecting the status quo.”

We think this is an example of regulatory capture, as defined by Investopedia:

Regulatory capture is an economic theory that says regulatory agencies may come to be dominated by the industries or interests they are charged with regulating. The result is that an agency, charged with acting in the public interest, instead acts in ways that benefit the industry it is supposed to be regulating.

Photo: A healthy wild whitetail buck.