ST. PAUL — Minnesota wildlife officials and U.S. Sen. Amy Klobuchar are pressing Congress for more funding to monitor chronic wasting disease in the deer herd.

They’re also urging the federal Department of Agriculture to develop a national tracking system for the deer disease as well as standards for transporting deer across state lines.

Chronic wasting disease is a contagious neurological disorder that affects deer, elk and other cervids. The frequency of the disease has grown and now been identified in as many as 25 states and three Canadian provinces.

The Department of Natural Resources said early test results showed hunters in southeastern Minnesota killed at least half a dozen CWD-infected deer this fall.