The Department of Natural Resources is finalizing plans to study an apparent positive case of bovine tuberculosis in a wild deer shot near Skime, Minn., and determine the extent of the disease.

The DNR announced Dec. 21 that the culture sample from a single deer shot near Skime has tested "preliminary positive" for bovine TB. The DNR collected lymph node samples from 479 deer in parts of Roseau, Marshall and Beltrami counties this past fall after a handful of cattle herds near Skime tested positive for the disease.

Bovine TB is a contagious disease that, despite its name, also is transmissible to deer and other wildlife and, in rare cases, humans. In the Skime area, deer and cattle often eat from the same food sources, especially during the winter.

According to Lou Cornicelli, big game program coordinator for the DNR in St. Paul, plans are in the works to shoot additional deer near Skime for testing this winter. DNR managers will meet with landowners in the Skime area in the next few weeks to discuss options for taking those deer, he said.

The preliminary positive sample comes from a 5½-year-old buck. Cornicelli said the carcass was kept because it had lesions that warranted further testing. The DNR, which also kept two other full carcasses, will have results from all of the samples in the next couple of weeks, he said.