12 elk from Aitkin County farm free of CWD

AITKIN -- Twelve elk from an Aitkin County farm where chronic wasting disease was discovered in August have tested negative for the disease, the Minnesota Board of Animal Health reported Tuesday.

The announcement came the same day it was announced that 10 deer culled from a nine-square mile area around the Clayton Lueck farm also tested negative.

The elk had been under quarantine since Aug. 30, when it was learned that one of the herd, a bull, had chronic wasting disease. The tested elk were euthanized at the University of Minnesota's Veterinary Diagnostic Laboratory in St. Paul and brain samples from each animal were sent to the same USDA-certified laboratory in Ames, Iowa, where the deer were tested. The remaining 36 elk from the Lueck herd will be euthanized and tested over the next three weeks. Lueck will receive monetary compensation for the loss of his herd, the Board of Animal Health said.

The elk are being euthanized because there is no way to test a live animal for chronic wasting disease, which is believed to be spread by animal-to-animal contact. To date, no other elk among the herd have shown signs of the disease. Infected animals lose weight, stagger, drink large amounts of water, urinate frequently, drool and eventually die.

The DNR's deer culling operation shot two more animals Monday night, bringing the total to 77. Landowners have been issued permits to shoot deer and the DNR expects to lessen its presence in the area over the next two weeks.

"We're definitely in the wind-down mode of the operation," said Jason Abraham, DNR spokesman.