DNR to hold 2 deer-hunting meetings on bovine TB response

INDIANAPOLIS (AP) - State officials are hosting two meetings this month for deer hunters to discuss Indiana's response to the discovery of bovine tuberculosis in the state.

Bovine TB was diagnosed in a deer in southeastern Indiana's Franklin County in August, marking the first time the animal disease was found in the wild in Indiana.

The Department of Natural Resources will hold a meeting Thursday at Franklin County's government center in Brookville and on Sept. 21 at Dearborn County's fairgrounds in Lawrenceburg.

The DNR is creating a deer-hunting management zone in part of Fayette County and all of Franklin County, and a surveillance zone in part of Dearborn County.

Deer taken this fall by hunters in those areas will be subject to mandatory inspections to test the animals for bovine tuberculosis.