The Challenge of CWD: Insidious and Dire

[walking buffalo]

Another concerning development in the CWD research front.

Previously it was believed that there was a barrier protecting Humans and Old World Monkeys from contracting CWD.

This is no longer the case, at least in terms of monkeys.


Alberta Health, Health Canada, CIFA and F&W are looking to re-word their position on CWD risks to humans.


F&W is Not implementing any new CWD protocols or management strategies this year, but they are working on new measures that will be enacted on soon.

Yah, I know, I said F&W WILL take action....


While there is no evidence that a person HAS contracted CWD,
there is also no evidence that NO Person has contracted the disease.

If you hunt in a known in a CWD area, please have the animal tested before eating it.

Chronic Wasting Disease: CFIA Research Summary Embargoed until May 23, 2017
(OCR of a scanned original)


Research Findings


Chronic Wasting Disease (CWD) is a progressive, fatal disease of the nervous system of cervids including deer, elk, moose, and reindeer that is caused by abnormal proteins called prions. It is known as a transmissible spongiform encephalopathy (TSE). Other TSEs include scrapie in sheep, bovine spongiform encephalopathy (BSE) in cattle, and Creutzfeldt-Jakob disease (CJD) in humans.

A limited number of experimental studies have demonstrated that non-human primates, specifically squirrel monkeys, are susceptible to CWD prions. An ongoing research study has now shown that CWD can also be transmitted to macaques, which are genetically closer to humans.


The study led by Dr. Stefanie Czub, a scientist at the Canadian Food Inspection Agency (CFIA), and funded by the Alberta Prion Research institute has demonstrated that by orally administering material under experimental conditions from cervids (deer and elk) naturally infected with CWD, the disease can be transmitted to macaques.


in this project, which began in 2009, 18 macaques were exposed to CWD in a variety of ways: by injecting into the brain, through contact with skin, oral administration, and intravenously (into the bloodstream through veins).
So far, results are available from 5 animals. At this point, two animals that were exposed to CWD by direct introduction into the brain, one that was administered infected brain material by oral administration and two that were given infected muscle by oral administration have become infected with CWD. The study is ongoing and testing continues in the remaining animals. The early results will be presented at PRlON 2017, the annual international conference on prion diseases, in Edinburgh, Scotland, May 23 to 26, 2017.


Potential impacts of the new finding

Since 2003 Canada has a policy that recommends that animals and materials known to be infected with prions be removed from the food chain and from health products. Although no direct evidence of CWD prion transmission to humans has ever been recorded, the policy advocates a precautionary approach to managing CWD and potential human exposure to prions. These initial findings do not change Health Canada’s Health Products and Food Branch (HPFB) position on food and health products. A precautionary approach is still recommended to manage the potential risks of exposure to prions through food and health products. Measures are in place at federal, provincial and territorial levels to reduce human exposure to products potentially contaminated by CWD by preventing known infected animals from entering the marketplace.


While Federal and P/T government’s animal disease control policies continue to divert known CWD-infected animals away from entering the food and feed supply, research and development of sensitive detection methods including live-animal sampling techniques remain crucial for ensuring an accurate diagnosis. In addition, consistent federal, provincial and territorial communications of appropriate precautionary measures for hunters and indigenous communities are required.


Next Steps

The CFlA will continue to collaborate with national and international partners to develop and validate new diagnostic techniques. The CFlA will also continue to offer confirmatory testing services and reference laboratory expertise to provincial and territorial partners on demand.


Currently, CFlA laboratories are leading or collaborating on several research projects to understand the potential for CWD to infect humans. These projects use non‐human primates, genetically modified mice, and cell-free amplification approaches. Given the present findings, CFiA encourages continued research into TSEs.


The results of this study reinforce the need to redesign the federal program to foster greater adoption of risk mitigation measures for farmed cervids. Federal and provincial government collaboration will continue as new program options are assessed.


The results of Dr. Czub’s research into CWD will be of interest to scientists, governments, industry and people who consume cervid products. After the presentation at PRION 2017, the research will follow the normal steps of completion, peer review and publication. The Government of Canada will monitor the response to this research and determine whether further review of the science is required. Other studies underway by other researchers may also become public as a result of the presentation of Dr. Czub’s research.


The Public Health Agency of Canada, Health Canada, CFlA and other Federal partners are working together to assess what policies or programs need further review as well as preparing other communications about the research and health policy and advice to Canadian.
2017/04/28

[waterninja]

Originally Posted by walking buffalo

Another concerning development in the CWD research front.

Previously it was believed that there was a barrier protecting Humans and Old World Monkeys from contracting CWD.

This is no longer the case, at least in terms of monkeys.


Alberta Health, Health Canada, CIFA and F&W are looking to re-word their position on CWD risks to humans.


F&W is Not implementing any new CWD protocols or management strategies this year, but they are working on new measures that will be enacted on soon.

Yah, I know, I said F&W WILL take action....


While there is no evidence that a person HAS contracted CWD,
there is also no evidence that NO Person has contracted the disease.

If you hunt in a known in a CWD area, please have the animal tested before eating it.

I have to agree with you on this one wilber. Our natural world is quite sick. If it's not CWD then it's all the bees dying. Or all the fish dying. Or global warming. Or food crops failing. Mad cow. Pine beetle. Ticks and lyme diesase. Avian flu. Flooding. Forest fires. NDP (lol).....and on and on. Just wait till our Prime Minister raises the intrest rate even 1% to pay for rubber duckies....
Yet humanity seems to limp on. I honestly believe that I have lived through the best years AB had to offer, but I hope my children and grandchildren live through better ones.

P.S.. There is no guarentee that the food/meat you buy at your local grocer is any better then that WT Buck you shot last fall served with some spring picked mushrooms.

[Lefty-Canuck]

I have some CWD mule deer if anyone is brave enough?

LC

[boonedocks]

I agree that this is one scary paper to read, almost sounds like it's unstoppable?! If that prion has been incinerated and still survived how could we possibly contain it?

[boonedocks]

Originally Posted by boonedocks

I agree that this is one scary paper to read, almost sounds like it's unstoppable?! If that prion has been incinerated and still survived how could we possibly contain it?

It's like something out of all the zombie movies?!

[waterninja]

Originally Posted by boonedocks

It's like something out of all the zombie movies?!

I hear Zombies are as quick as Coyotes, but harder to kill. No fur to put your Xhair's on.

[boonedocks]

Inability to sterilize surgical equipment by all known methods?! Ability
For prions to attach to soil and Minerals and then be absorbed into new plant growth?? Honestly folks, everyone on the forum should read this paper.

[The moose]

Originally Posted by Lefty-Canuck

I have some CWD mule deer if anyone is brave enough?

LC

Now the question comes up. How do you ethically dispose of the contaminated meat? Do you need to throw all intruments used in butchering the animal away do to lack of sterilization?

[alta270]

Originally Posted by walking buffalo

Another concerning development in the CWD research front.

Previously it was believed that there was a barrier protecting Humans and Old World Monkeys from contracting CWD.

This is no longer the case, at least in terms of monkeys.


Alberta Health, Health Canada, CIFA and F&W are looking to re-word their position on CWD risks to humans.


F&W is Not implementing any new CWD protocols or management strategies this year, but they are working on new measures that will be enacted on soon.

Yah, I know, I said F&W WILL take action....


While there is no evidence that a person HAS contracted CWD,
there is also no evidence that NO Person has contracted the disease.

If you hunt in a known in a CWD area, please have the animal tested before eating it.

The way the article is written raises some questions. In humans, the prion disease similar to CWD is Kreutz-Jacobs. What the article suggests is that the monkeys actually contacted CWD, which I thought was a prion disease only in ungulates. As example, BSE is restricted to ruminates.

So the question becomes, did the prion disease that the monkeys got actually CWD, or more likely Kreutz-Jacob (I am presuming that primates would get the latter).

I know it is a technicality, but I think a valid question. Regardless, this is not a great indicator of what may happen.

[buckmasterjr]

I have a handful of trail camera and camcorder footage of a couple animals (mule deer and a bull moose) acting very strange. Who can I contact or send these images and videos to? This was in the area where they had recently tested a whitetail that was cwd positive (wmu 250) much further west than the previously known areas of cwd.

[walking buffalo]

Originally Posted by The moose

Now the question comes up. How do you ethically dispose of the contaminated meat? Do you need to throw all intruments used in butchering the animal away do to lack of sterilization?

This is a tough question with no easy answer.

The question is being discussed, including what to do regarding the transportation of wildlife from the field. Do we impose a requirement that only meat is removed from the field, guts and bones are left at the kill site, or do we require that the whole animal is removed and any material not consumed is sent to a facility for disposal?

How safe and proactive should we be, or do we accept the consequences of managing CWD reactively?

Originally Posted by alta270

The way the article is written raises some questions. In humans, the prion disease similar to CWD is Kreutz-Jacobs. What the article suggests is that the monkeys actually contacted CWD, which I thought was a prion disease only in ungulates. As example, BSE is restricted to ruminates.

So the question becomes, did the prion disease that the monkeys got actually CWD, or more likely Kreutz-Jacob (I am presuming that primates would get the latter).

I know it is a technicality, but I think a valid question. Regardless, this is not a great indicator of what may happen.

Yes, these tests used Deer and Elk variants of CWD to infect the Macaque monkeys.

BSE is not limited to ruminants, that is the problem. People that get infected with BSE are described as contracting Variant Creutzfeldt–Jakob disease (vCJD) or new variant Creutzfeldt–Jakob disease (nvCJD).

Originally Posted by buckmasterjr

I have a handful of trail camera and camcorder footage of a couple animals (mule deer and a bull moose) acting very strange. Who can I contact or send these images and videos to? This was in the area where they had recently tested a whitetail that was cwd positive (wmu 250) much further west than the previously known areas of cwd.

Post them here.

And send to your local Provincial Wildlife Biologist.

[packhuntr]

And yet through it all,,, our plains species are still on the chopping block as the front line problem... Disgusting and sad... and what of the rest of untested Alberta?? Hmmm,,, guess if we decide not to look there, it will remain the only place weve never found it.... And what of the unfettered transport of machinery and equipment across provincial and state borders that without question are relocating soil and plant material? Even cars transporting dust can do it. What of the lack of regulation that still allows unregulated transport and disposal of deer bones and carcasses harvested in Saskatchewan, to nearly every point across Canada? The list goes on and on. So wheres the proof it hasnt always been here... its been found in Norway reindeer,,, let me guess,,, a saskatchewan non resident hunter threw a deboned deer behind the house.... Keep throwing good away for bad... Is there any surprises???

[walking buffalo]

Originally Posted by packhuntr

And yet through it all,,, our plains species are still on the chopping block as the front line problem... Disgusting and sad... and what of the rest of untested Alberta?? Hmmm,,, guess if we decide not to look there, it will remain the only place weve never found it.... And what of the unfettered transport of machinery and equipment across provincial and state borders that without question are relocating soil and plant material? Even cars transporting dust can do it. What of the lack of regulation that still allows unfettered transport and disposal of deer bones and carcasses harvested in Saskatchewan, to nearly every point across Canada? The list goes on and on. So wheres the proof it hasnt always been here... its been found in Norway reindeer,,, let me guess,,, a saskatchewan non resident hunter threw a deboned deer behind the house.... Keep throwing good away for bad... Is there any surprises???

Thanks Pak, we should have listened to you from the start.
Problem solved!




You do bring up a point that I hope gets cleared up soon.

"and what of the rest of untested Alberta?? Hmmm,,, guess if we decide not to look there, it will remain the only place weve never found it.."

This is a fallacy than lives on. Currently all we see are maps of where CWD has been found. I have suggested that jurisdictions produce maps showing where they have tested and have NOT found CWD. That should end this silly argument.



" its been found in Norway reindeer,,, let me guess,,, a saskatchewan non resident hunter threw a deboned deer behind the house."


If you stated Elk rather than deer, you might be on to something.

The Norwegian Reindeer appear to be infected with the CWD variant associated with North American Elk. True, it is currently unknown if this disease is indigenous or was somehow translocated to the area. How the disease arose here is a question that is being researched. Norwegian Moose have also been found to have a new variant of CWD, currently being described as being unique.


Regardless of pre-historical occurrences of CWD, the past does not immunize humans and wildlife from potential catastrophic health concerns.

[waterninja]

Originally Posted by walking buffalo

Thanks Pak, we should have listened to you from the start.
Problem solved!




You do bring up a point that I hope gets cleared up soon.

"and what of the rest of untested Alberta?? Hmmm,,, guess if we decide not to look there, it will remain the only place weve never found it.."

This is a fallacy than lives on. Currently all we see are maps of where CWD has been found. I have suggested that jurisdictions produce maps showing where they have tested and have NOT found CWD. That should end this silly argument.



" its been found in Norway reindeer,,, let me guess,,, a saskatchewan non resident hunter threw a deboned deer behind the house."


If you stated Elk rather than deer, you might be on to something.

The Norwegian Reindeer appear to be infected with the CWD variant associated with North American Elk. True, it is currently unknown if this disease is indigenous or was somehow translocated to the area. How the disease arose here is a question that is being researched. Norwegian Moose have also been found to have a new variant of CWD, currently being described as being unique.


Regardless of pre-historical occurrences of CWD, the past does not immunize humans and wildlife from potential catastrophic health concerns.

You would think that even though hunters are not required to submit heads for testing in a lot of WMU's, that some kind of testing has been done in those WMU's also. Can you imagine the hassle and workload for testers if every head from every WMU had to be submitted and tested? A call to an AEP biologist might answer some of your concerns.

[urban rednek]

This latest news release ties in with information in this thread. Links to some of the other CWD threads at the bottom of this post.

Hold on to your hats boys, things are about to get serious. When they start talking prohibitions on agricultural products, which can lead to further embargoes, everyone gets jittery.

https://www.ctvnews.ca/climate-and-e...says-1.5509907

Spreading wildlife disease threatens deer, elk -- and maybe humans, new research says
Bob Weber
The Canadian Press, Staff
Published Thursday, July 15, 2021 4:51AM EDT
Last Updated Thursday, July 15, 2021 4:51AM EDT
EDMONTON -- The continuing spread of a fatal wildlife disease in Alberta and Saskatchewan has a federal agency recommending a deer cull across a wide swath of the Prairies.

And soon-to-be-published research on chronic wasting disease has raised new fears about whether the illness could infect humans.

"I would say this question was answered with 'yes,"' said Hermann Schaetzl, a veterinary scientist at the University of Calgary.
Schaetzl's work was discussed in a recent report from the Canadian Agri-Food Policy Institute, which advises the federal government on agriculture policy. Earlier this month, the institute concluded that in addition to human health concerns, the disease's spread over the last decade threatens Western Canada's agriculture, wildlife and food security.

"It's continuing to increase in its spread and the speed of its spread," said Ted Bilyea, the institute's strategy officer.

Chronic wasting disease affects animals such as deer, caribou, moose and elk, attacking nervous systems with universally fatal results. Like mad cow disease or Creutzfeldt-Jakob disease in humans, it is caused by prions -- misshapen proteins that can persist in the environment for up to a decade, able to transfer their shape to healthy proteins.

It was first found in Canada in 1996. Since then, it has appeared in deer and elk in Saskatchewan, Alberta and Quebec.

In 2019, Alberta found 11 per cent of animals submitted by hunters tested positive, up from seven per cent in previous years. It was also found in moose for the first time.

Maps in the report show that in 2008 the disease was limited to isolated outbreaks in Alberta and Saskatchewan. Now, it's considered well-established throughout Alberta's southeast quarter and Saskatchewan's southern half.

The report also discussed an experiment conducted on macaque monkeys, considered the closest animal analog to humans.

In 2006, German scientists began feeding macaques with meat from animals infected with the disease. Because it can take years for the disease to show, the monkeys weren't euthanized and tested until two years ago.

The first tests were ambiguous. But Schaetzl, who helped conduct confirmatory tests, said it became clear the monkeys had developed low-level infections.

"The more we did, the more we could confirm the macaques were infected."

Although Schaetzl's work is still being peer-reviewed, it has been presented in conferences and is widely discussed among disease experts.

"I was shocked when we first learned of the results," said Neil Cashman, a leading prion expert at the University of British Columbia. "It's absolutely confirmative that this happened -- you could give macaques a prion disease through oral consumption of contaminated meat."

Because the disease is so new and takes so long to develop, Cashman said there could already be people suffering from a human form of chronic wasting disease.

"(For) many people with a spinal cord syndrome, it wouldn't even occur to the treating neurologist that this could be a prion disease," he said. "It's going to take some education and alertness to even think of the diagnosis."

To keep tainted meat out of the food supply, Saskatchewan and Alberta require deer and elk farmers to test every animal that dies on their farms, including slaughtered animals. If the disease is found on an Alberta farm, the herd is depopulated and the farmer is prohibited from restocking with animals susceptible to it.

There have been no cases of cattle catching the disease from wild animals.

"It's easy to go down a doomsday scenario but I don't think we're there yet," said Neil Lehman, Alberta's provincial veterinarian. "I think it's low-risk."

He points out macaques may be close to humans, but they're still a different species.

Still, Bilyea warns chronic wasting disease threatens Alberta's wildlife. It's already shrinking Montana deer herds.

It also threatens hunters -- especially those who depend on game to fill the freezer. The report warns of dire consequences if the disease gets into caribou, a threatened species in the mountains and a staple for many northern First Nations.

"The southern range (of caribou) is pretty much the northern range for our survey," Bilyea said. "If (prions) pass through that, then we have a genuine food security problem for our northern people."

The report's first recommendation is the creation of a deer-depopulated buffer zone to separate caribou range from infected animals.

"We don't have any buffer zone," said Bilyea. "It's not a very pleasant idea, but this is not a very pleasant topic."

Alberta has previously tried deer culls in an effort to keep the disease confined to Saskatchewan. But Lehman said it might be time to try again.

"It's worth considering," he said. "I think it's justified."

Chronic wasting disease also threatens the reputation of Canadian agriculture.

A 2003 outbreak of mad cow disease in northern Alberta damaged Canadian food exports for years. Norway has already passed regulations prohibiting the import of Canadian hay and straw from jurisdictions with chronic wasting disease.

Cashman said he no longer eats deer or elk.

"I hear the alarm bells going off," he said.

"I would have expected a human case to emerge in the U.S. before Canada. But on the weight of evidence, I think it's not only not impossible, it's kind of expected at this point."

Here are some of the other CWD specific threads in this forum:
http://www.outdoorsmenforum.ca/showthread.php?t=391552
http://www.outdoorsmenforum.ca/showthread.php?t=334530
http://www.outdoorsmenforum.ca/showthread.php?t=327671

[osterous]

Does anyone know if there has been a positive case in the foothills/300 zones
south of the Yellowhead to the Montana border?
Thanks
Roger

[Pioneer2]

Still haven't got the CWD results for last years mule deer?

[calgarychef]

I can’t seem to open those links to the article on my iPad but I’m sure it basically says what walking buffalo has been saying for the last couple years.

I’m kind of surprised that it hasn’t shown up in cattle. Compared to CWD mad cow might be a cake walk.

[NKP]

There was an article last year where a professor from Nee Hampshire (I think) found that he could treat CWD with antibiotics. He figured it's not a prion but a bacteria that lost it’s cell wall or similar. I’d be curious to see how that squares with this recent news release.

[urban rednek]

Originally Posted by NKP

There was an article last year where a professor from Nee Hampshire (I think) found that he could treat CWD with antibiotics. He figured it's not a prion but a bacteria that lost it’s cell wall or similar. I’d be curious to see how that squares with this recent news release.

Are you thinking of Dr. Frank Bastian? Haven't heard of any progress reports since his claims were published in February and March 2019. Some links in this thread:

http://www.outdoorsmenforum.ca/showthread.php?t=362297

Here is another CWD general discussion thread with some useful links:
http://www.outdoorsmenforum.ca/showthread.php?t=357115

[Pioneer2]

If they don't contact you with the results.A hunting partner and his daughter are still waiting on last years mule deer?

[FCLightning]

Originally Posted by Pioneer2

If they don't contact you with the results.A hunting partner and his daughter are still waiting on last years mule deer?

Did they try calling Margo?

[Full Curl Earl]

If its as prevalent as they say, then how could there be no cases in cattle? If the prions can survive for 10 years in the ground, cattle would surely have it from grazing land for sure. So, either cattle can not contract it so there is no risk to the industry, or Shoot Shovel Shut up practices are alive and well, or, and the most likely I believe, researchers were told not to research it’s possible cattle possibly.
This buffer between Caribou and CWD prone areas already exists, as a void of positive cases without installing a Mexico wall. And frankly, killing off a species like Mule deer, already struggling in much of North America due to habitat loss and other complexities, to spare a caribou population that has seen little to no improvement in 40 years, seems poorly thought out. And I greatly admire Caribou. The saying that, no mule deer die of CWD, only hunter killed deer get CWD seems to hold water lately. Shouldn’t we be seeing dead somewhere on the prairies? Making plans for another cull based on a non peer reviewed study is exactly what I expect from this Province.
CWD when I first started following it 20 years ago, was supposed to wipe out the mule deer population, i hadn’t imagined humans would be doing the Wipeing...

[calgarychef]

Originally Posted by Full Curl Earl

If its as prevalent as they say, then how could there be no cases in cattle? If the prions can survive for 10 years in the ground, cattle would surely have it from grazing land for sure. So, either cattle can not contract it so there is no risk to the industry, or Shoot Shovel Shut up practices are alive and well, or, and the most likely I believe, researchers were told not to research it’s possible cattle possibly.
This buffer between Caribou and CWD prone areas already exists, as a void of positive cases without installing a Mexico wall. And frankly, killing off a species like Mule deer, already struggling in much of North America due to habitat loss and other complexities, to spare a caribou population that has seen little to no improvement in 40 years, seems poorly thought out. And I greatly admire Caribou. The saying that, no mule deer die of CWD, only hunter killed deer get CWD seems to hold water lately. Shouldn’t we be seeing dead somewhere on the prairies? Making plans for another cull based on a non peer reviewed study is exactly what I expect from this Province.
CWD when I first started following it 20 years ago, was supposed to wipe out the mule deer population, i hadn’t imagined humans would be doing the Wipeing...

I guess we don’t see dead dear from CWD because they don’t die off fast and all together. There’s dead animals all over the place we just don’t see them much. I don’t think a cull will accomplish much, the genie is out of the bottle. We can expect our crops from that part of the province to be shunned by buyers soon. At least until the “science is settled.”

Game farming was a horrible idea I guess and transporting game from one area to another probably is a close second.

[FCLightning]

Originally Posted by Full Curl Earl

The saying that, no mule deer die of CWD, only hunter killed deer get CWD seems to hold water lately. Shouldn’t we be seeing dead somewhere on the prairies?

My wife shot her Mule buck last year a mile and a half from the house. Same buck wanders through the home property. It came back positive for CWD. This spring when checking fence we came across 3 winter kill carcasses in the back corner of the property. It wasn't a hard winter. In 30 years we have never found a winter kill carcass come spring. Coincidence???

[calgarychef]

Originally Posted by FCLightning

My wife shot her Mule buck last year a mile and a half from the house. Same buck wanders through the home property. It came back positive for CWD. This spring when checking fence we came across 3 winter kill carcasses in the back corner of the property. It wasn't a hard winter. In 30 years we have never found a winter kill carcass come spring. Coincidence???

That’s interesting, did you give f&W a call about them? I think eyes on the ground might help to add more information to the little that they have.

[Ackleyman]

Originally Posted by huntinstuff View Post
Attention Anti Hunters
Sit back
Pour yourself a tea

Watch us "sportsmen" attack each other and destroy ourselves from within.

From road hunters vs "real hunters" to bowhunters vs rifle hunters, long bows and recurves vs compound user to bow vs crossbow to white hunters vs Native hunters etc etc etc
.....

Enjoy the easy ride, anti hunters. Strange to me why we seem to be doing your job for you.

Excuse me while I go puke.

Yuh know i really wish you could kill this. It is so negative. EVERY hunter i have met [excluding maybe 1 or 2 ] over the last 50+ years has generally been a real good guy or gal and always helpful , weather lending a hand dragging an animal back to truck or helping with a mechanical problem or just overall going out of their way. I have done the same lots of times and have met MANY new friends. Hunters have their own opinions and most have thick skin. Bashing everyone is pure dog sheet. Go puke if you gotta....I almost puke everytime i see this plastered all over.

[urban rednek]

It's official, the government has announced it released the additional supplemental tags this year in order to reduce the deer population in the affected WMU's. It's the first step in controlling the spread of CWD.
https://calgary.ctvnews.ca/video?clipId=2261218

[tracker]

There is a new program that you can sign up for to learn to use kits to collect samples to submit to the surveillance program:


Citizen Scientist Opportunity For Hunters

The Alberta Environment and Parks Chronic Wasting Disease (CWD) surveillance program is looking for volunteers to participate in a pilot program. This pilot program will instruct deer, moose and elk hunters on how to collect tissue samples for CWD testing and evaluate the accuracy of collecting the required samples. We are looking for 500 volunteers to participate for the 2021-2022 season – sample kits and training will be provided. Please contact AEP.outreach-services@gov.ab.ca to register for this program or with any questions.

[urban rednek]

Looks like CWD is moving East too. Who'da thunk it?

https://winnipeg.ctvnews.ca/manitoba...ound-1.5648095

Manitoba reports first chronic wasting disease case; bans hunting where animal found
WINNIPEG -

Officials in Manitoba are reporting what they say is the province's first case of chronic wasting disease, a nervous system disorder that affects large game animals.

The province says in a news release that on Oct. 14, as part of its wildlife health surveillance program, a male mule deer was observed to be unhealthy and was euthanized in western Manitoba, near Lake of the Prairies.

Testing found the animal to have chronic wasting disease, the release says, adding it's the first time it's been found in Manitoba.

The province is immediately implementing a ban on hunting deer, moose, caribou and elk in the area to ensure the disease is not spread through the transport of a diseased carcass.

Chronic wasting disease, or CWD, infects animals like deer, moose and caribou and an afflicted animal can appear normal for years until it begins to lose weight and co-ordination before dying.

It was first found in Canada in 1996, and since then, it has appeared in deer and elk in Saskatchewan, Alberta and Quebec.

"The province has immediately begun to plan for additional CWD surveillance actions in the area surrounding this finding and has reached out to multiple stakeholders, First Nations, Metis and other groups who need to be aware," the provincial news release stated.

"The province will need the full co-operation of the public, including hunters, producers and land-owners to ensure this disease is contained or even eradicated from the area."

The release notes there is no indication of any connection to farmed elk populations at this time.

Like mad cow disease or Creutzfeldt-Jakob disease in humans, CWD is caused by prions -- misshapen proteins that can persist in the environment for up to a decade.

In 2019, Alberta found 11 per cent of deer and elk submitted by hunters tested positive, up from seven per cent in previous years. It was also found in moose for the first time.

To keep tainted meat out of the food supply, Saskatchewan and Alberta require deer and elk farmers to test every animal that dies on their farms, including slaughtered animals. If the disease is found on an Alberta farm, the herd is destroyed and the farmer is prohibited from restocking with animals susceptible to it.

There have been no cases of cattle catching the disease from wild animals.

The Manitoba news release notes the province "has had very rigorous reporting and testing requirements for CWD," which it says include making it illegal to bring certain unprocessed meat into Manitoba.

It also notes the elk farming industry has ongoing CWD surveillance, and there have been no reported cases in farmed animals in Manitoba.

The boundaries of the hunting ban where the infected mule deer was found are still being determined, the province said.

It said that while CWD is not known as a human health risk, meat from a CWD infected animal is not recommended for consumption and hunters in areas where the disease has been found should practice safe carcass handling protocols.

This report by The Canadian Press was first published Nov. 1, 2021.

Wait for it. More restrictions on transport across borders will be coming, and it won't just be on game animals.