OTTUMWA, Iowa (AP) — Wildlife officials will meet with landowners in southern Iowa to discuss plans to contain chronic wasting disease, which was found in an area deer this summer.
Iowa Department of Natural Resources officials will meet Oct. 15 in Ottumwa to outline plans to collect additional samples for testing in Davis and Wapello counties during the deer hunting season.
A deer tested positive for the disease at a hunting preserve near Bloomfield in July, marking the first time it has been confirmed in Iowa. The disease damages animals' brain tissue, causing illness and eventually death.
The DNR says landowners will be key to its plan to stop the disease from spreading. Officials will collect samples from hunters and lockers where deer are processed to study the health of the wild herd.
