Meetings planned to discuss bovine TB

Indiana DNR Release:

The Indiana Department of Natural Resources and the Indiana State Board of Animal Health (BOAH) issued a reminder of three public meetings scheduled next week at which they will address the current status of bovine tuberculosis in Indiana and outline proposed actions the two agencies have planned for the upcoming deer hunting seasons.

The meetings will be from 7 to 9 p.m. local time. Dates and locations are:

– Sept. 28, Laurel Middle School, 13246 Indiana 121, Laurel (Franklin County)
– Sept. 29, Wayne County Youth Center, Wayne County Fairgrounds, 861 Salisbury Road, Richmond (Wayne County)
– Sept. 30, Corydon Junior High School, 377 Country Club Road, Corydon (Harrison County)

State officials will provide updates on the presence of bovine TB in captive cervid (deer and elk) operations and discuss plans for testing of free-ranging white-tailed deer taken during the upcoming hunting seasons.

Bovine TB is a chronic bacterial disease that affects primarily cattle but can be transmitted to any warm-blooded animal.

The disease was identified at a captive cervid operation in Franklin County in May. The animals at that facility, mostly elk and non-native deer species, have been euthanized.

BOAH subsequently quarantined two additional facilities – one in Harrison County and one in Wayne County – for exposure to the disease because they had purchased cervids from the Franklin County site. Animals at the Wayne County site have been euthanized. Plans are in the works to depopulate the Harrison County site this fall.

DNR conservation officers culled 30 deer in the vicinity of the Franklin County site in August. Preliminary tests showed no significant findings of bovine TB in the samples. Results from more extensive tests are pending.