DES MOINES, Iowa (AP) – An Iowa lawmaker wants to require double-fencing at deer farms and shooting preserves where white-tail deer are kept.  The bill introduced Monday by Senate Natural Resources Committee Chairman Dick Dearden is intended to reduce the threat of chronic wasting disease being transmitted to Iowa’s deer herd.

The height of fences around deer farms and preserves would have to increase from 8 to 10 feet and there would have to be a 10-foot secondary fence. This would prevent nose-to-nose contact between captive deer and wild deer.  Dale Garner, who heads the Iowa Department of Natural Resources’ wildlife bureau, tells The Gazette in Cedar Rapids that double-fencing would help.

The DNR says deer hunting has a $214 million annual economic impact on the state.