3rd deer found with chronic wasting disease near Lanesboro

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The Minnesota Department of Natural Resources says a third deer was found infected with chronic wasting disease.

The department said the discovery will not change current boundaries of the disease management zone, which is deer permit area 603. A special hunt begins on Saturday in the permit area and concludes on Jan. 15.

A hunter found the deer about five miles north of where the two previously reported infected deer were killed, about four miles west of Lanesboro, Minnesota. The hunter harvested it until a taxidermist later provided a sample for the DNR to test.

Chronic wasting disease is a fatal brain disease to deer, elk and moose, but is not known to affect human health.

Prior to the recent cases, the only other wild deer with the disease found in Minnesota was harvested near Pine Island in 2010, according to the DNR.