The second shotgun season for deer closes this weekend, and again this fall the Iowa Department of Natural Resources has monitored the deer population for Chronic Wasting Disease. Ron Munkel, state wildlife biologist for the Red Rock Management Unit – which includes Marion County – says the disease affects the brain of the deer, causing it to have trouble eating and maintaining balance. Munkel adds that no cases of CWD have been found in the area, and says there don’t appear to be many dangers related to the transference of the disease from deer to humans, but says contact with the nervous tissue of an animal that may have CWD is not recommended.

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