The Great Minnesota CWD Grift: How Cherry-Picked Fear, Farm Lobbies, and State Bureaucracy Rob Hunters, Farmers, and Taxpayers While Real Thieves Walk Free
By Phillip Parrish, Candidate for Governor of Minnesota
I’ve been a farmer and a hunter my whole life. I know what a sick deer looks like. I also know what a sick system looks like. And what’s happening with Chronic Wasting Disease (CWD) in Minnesota isn’t wildlife management—it’s organized theft dressed up as public safety.
For years, hunters and farmers like me have been told: “CWD is exploding. Trust the science. Follow the rules.”
But when we look with our own eyes? The deer are still there. The herds aren’t collapsing. The symptoms we’re told to fear—drooling, stumbling, wasting away—are almost nowhere to be seen outside a few fenced pens and lab reports. Yet the state spends $3.1 million a year on CWD “emergency response,” $375,000+ annually on lab tests, and $483,000 in fresh federal grants to the University of Minnesota to “study” a disease that affects less than 0.5% of wild deer statewide.
So where’s the crisis?
It’s not in the woods. It’s in the budget.
The Data Doesn’t Lie—But the Narrative Does
Let’s be clear: CWD is real. It’s a prion disease. It spreads in dense populations. It has no cure.
But here are the actual numbers, not the fear headlines:
• 217 positive cases in wild deer since 2002—out of over 120,000 tested.
• 80% of cases in just two southeast counties (Fillmore and Houston).
• Statewide prevalence: under 0.5%.
• 6 confirmed cases in the 2024-2025 season so far.
That’s not an epidemic. That’s a localized issue, concentrated in areas with high deer farm density.
And that’s where the scam begins.
Follow the Farms, Follow the Money
Minnesota has ~400 licensed deer and elk farms. Over 60% are clustered in just 10 counties—the same counties where CWD cases spike.
Coincidence? Hardly.
• Fillmore County: 25+ deer farms → 50+ CWD cases
• Houston County: 20+ farms → 30–40 cases
• Wright County (DPA 701): 12 farms → first wild case in January 2025
Deer farms pack animals into pens. They trade stock. They ship across state lines. They amplify prion spread.
And yet? The DNR eased movement bans on farmed deer in the 2010s. Farmers sued twice in 2025 to weaken fence rules—and won. Meanwhile, hunters get bait bans, carcass restrictions, and mandatory testing zones.
Who benefits?
• Labs: UMN charges $75+ per test → $375,000+ yearly from voluntary samples.
• Researchers: MNPRO just got $483,497 in USDA grants to “improve detection”—detection that finds more cases, justifies more funding.
• Deer farmers: A $25 million industry protected by lobbyists while wild herds take the blame.
• DNR bureaucrats: $3.1 million annual budget line item—forever.
Hunters pay with licenses. Taxpayers pay with diverted funds. Farmers pay with quarantines and lost land use.
The grifters cash the checks.
Same Playbook, Different Program
This isn’t just about deer. This is Minnesota’s centralized grift model—and it’s everywhere.
The CWD program uses a false crisis (“exploding epidemic”) and cherry-picked data (0.5% prevalence spun as statewide doom) to profit labs, researchers, and the farm lobby.
Medicaid claims “fraud is rare” while billions vanish in upcoding—clinics, middlemen, and insiders profit.
SNAP and welfare programs cry “need is growing” while ghost accounts and duplicate claims go unchecked—fraud rings and lax oversight win.
Nonprofits scream “deficits everywhere” while one-third run in the red but pay executives six figures—grant-chasing NGOs thrive.
They amplify emotion. They suppress real data. They protect the machine.
And they never go after the real thieves.
The Real Crime? Energy Misspent
Imagine if Minnesota spent $3.1 million a year prosecuting welfare fraud.
Imagine if $483,000 in grants went to independent audits of deer farms instead of university labs.
Imagine if the same urgency applied to Medicaid scams, nonprofit grift, or political insider deals.
We could save billions.
We could restore trust.
We could protect the people—not the system.
But no.
They’d rather chase ghosts in the woods while real criminals rob us blind.
Hunters and Farmers Saw It First
We’ve been saying this for years:
“Where are the sick deer?”
“Why are farms exempt?”
“Why do we test healthy bucks but ignore fraud in St. Paul?”
And for years, we were dismissed. Called conspiracy theorists. Told to “trust the experts.”
But we were right.
The symptoms don’t match the scare.
The clusters don’t match the map—unless you overlay the farms.
The money doesn’t match the threat—unless you follow the grants.
A Call to Action: End the Grift, Start the Reckoning
As your next governor, I will:
1. Mandate independent audits of all CWD data, testing labs, and deer farm compliance.
2. Shift $2 million from CWD “emergency” funds to a Rural Fraud Task Force targeting welfare, medical, and nonprofit theft.
3. Ban baiting? Fine. But ban farm movements first. No double standards.
4. Publish every grant, contract, and lab invoice online—full transparency.
5. Prosecute the grifters—in uniforms, lab coats, or state offices.
This isn’t about deer.
This is about who Minnesota works for.
The hunters. The farmers. The taxpayers.
Or the thieves.
We’ve had enough.
It’s time to bust this open.
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Phillip Parrish is a farmer, hunter, and candidate for Governor of Minnesota. He’s not funded by deer farms, university grants, or St. Paul insiders. He’s funded by people who’ve had enough.
#EndTheGrift | #HuntTheTruth | #ParrishForGovernor