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Public Meetings For Deer-Related Bovine Tuberculosis Monitoring Sept 7-12

Last updated on Tuesday, September 5, 2017

(UNDATED) - The public can learn about government efforts to monitor deer in Franklin and Fayette counties for bovine tuberculosis at two public meetings in September.

Those meetings are at 6 p.m. on Sept. 7 at Franklin County High School and at 9:30 a.m. on Sept. 12 at Franklin County Government Center. The meetings are a joint effort between the DNR Division of Fish & Wildlife and State Board of Animal Health.

The Division of Fish & Wildlife plans to establish a new bovine tuberculosis surveillance zone in those counties.

Bovine tuberculosis is a chronic bacterial disease that affects primarily cattle, but can be transmitted to any mammal species. In 2016, the disease showed up in a deer culled for testing from a Franklin County cattle farm affected by bovine tuberculosis.

Surveillance involves testing lymph nodes from the necks of deer harvested by hunters and voluntarily submitted for evaluation.

In the surveillance zone, the DNR is asking hunters to help collect samples from between 450 and 1,200 deer. The emphasis will be on bucks that are 2-years-old or older. If sufficient samples are not collected through voluntary submission by hunters, DNR will use sharpshooters to remove additional bucks for sampling after the season closes.

Hunters who submit a deer for testing will have their names entered into a drawing for an additional buck privilege that can be used the next hunting season. Ten hunters will win an extra buck privilege.

A larger bovine tuberculosis surveillance zone established for the 2016 hunting season resulted in the collection of more than 2,000 samples. None tested positive for the disease.

To view all DNR news releases, please see dnr.IN.gov.

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