A Winona, Minn.-area deer farmer whose business is being lost to chronic wasting disease criticized state government in a Facebook posting but said he'll go along with a taxpayer-funded plan to wipe out his herd.
Todd Miller, owner of Epic Antler Ranch and brother of Minnesota GOP Senate Majority Leader Jeremy Miller, said on his Facebook page that CWD is "a money grab for the DNR, to get and waste millions of taxpayers dollars'' with no end game.
In his rant, Todd Miller said the always-fatal deer disease is prevalent in wild deer across southern Minnesota. "But being I'm a deer farmer with a positive test, and farm in MN, I have to kill them all. WHY because MN legislators made it a law, but other states don't do this.''
Miller described CWD as a "political disease'' and wrote, "PEOPLE NEED TO WAKE UP!!"
Under a 2019 law passed by the Legislature to combat the spread of CWD from farms to wild deer, private deer producers are required to "depopulate'' their herds if CWD is detected. Restocking is forbidden for five years and fencing must be maintained to keep wild deer away from sites where infected deer roamed.
Herd owners can be reimbursed by federal tax dollars distributed by the U.S. Department of Agriculture. Miller said in his Facebook posting that despite frustration and heartache, he is working with the state and USDA to "make this as smooth as possible.'' More than 127 deer are in his herd, a state official said.
Todd Miller did not respond to requests for comment. Rachel Aplikowski, a spokeswoman for Sen. Jeremy Miller, said the majority leader declined to comment on his brother's anti-government Facebook posting.
It's the second time in four months that the brothers are in the news over deer farming. In late April, Senate DFL Leader Melisa López Franzen raised conflict-of-interest concerns when Jeremy Miller played a role in overturning a bipartisan vote that nearly established a moratorium against new deer farms forming in the state.
