Chronic wasting disease that destroys deer populations near the South Saskatchewan River

CWD was first recorded at a game farm in Saskatchewan in 1996, but has since moved to wild deer, elk, and elk populations, showing wildfire-like infection rates in some areas. I am.

The land near the South Saskatchewan River Valley and the town of Outlook, 93 km southwest of Saskatoon, provides a major deer habitat and breeding ground for CWD.

“We see 70% height in male deer,” said Staciak.

“This is a deadly disease of animals that usually succumb to infection within two years, so it is of particular concern.”

CWD spreads in urine, feces, and saliva, and diseased proteins continue to infect for years and even decades after they are deposited.

“Unfortunately, the environment is polluted,” said Staciak.

CWD is a prion disease, a family member of bovine spongiform encephalopathy (BSE), and more commonly known as mad cow disease.

BSE devastated the British cattle industry in the 1980s and 1990s and is associated with the human variant Creutzfeldt-Jakob disease (vCJD). It is a deadly prion disease that punctures the infected brain and gives it a “sponge-like” appearance.

Unlike BSE, Stasiak said there is no evidence that eating infected animals can infect people with CWD.

But deer, elk, and elk are deadly, and humans are at theoretical risk, Staciak said.

“We cannot be 100% sure, so there are recommendations to avoid eating animals that are known to be infected.”

Hunters, guardians and butchers in the Outlook area are becoming more and more positive CWD test results Return to the animal that showed no signs of illness.

At the final stage of CWD, according to Stasiac, animals will be visibly ill, malnourished, and confused.

Darryl Thunder, owner and operator of Sanders Meat Processing at Beach, 188 kilometers southwest of Saskatoon, has no evidence that CWD is contagious to people, but hunters are worried about eating venison. Said that.

“They just ask me,’What should I do? I just shot this deer, should they test it first? Should I handle it and then test it?” Do I take the chance to eat it? “Thunder said.

The CWD test takes about 6 weeks to complete, and government officials collect animal heads and take them to state laboratories for inspection.

In the meantime, hunters often paid hundreds of dollars to cut and wrap animals in slaughterhouses.

“It will be expensive to handle, but it’s up to you to do it,” Thunder said.

Seeing the deer’s behavior go wrong, the answer to chronic wasting disease is steadily returning.-Ted Glass, Chief of Protection

Despite waiting for test results, maintenance officer Ted Glass said testing is essential to managing CWD.

“When I see deer not working well, I think I’ll get more and more answers about chronic wasting disease.”

Kinderthree-based Grass, about 148 km west of Outlook, said there were too many deer suffering from CWD to track for years.

“At first, the animal looks very normal and very natural, but then the symptoms appear very quickly and there are symptoms of disorientation. It looks malnourished. The ribs and spine begin to appear. . The head is hanging. Clearly, very fast, that the deer has something wrong. “

In addition to the inspection, Mr. Grass said hunters should avoid transporting corpses. Corpses can cause illness in new areas.

Stasiak agreed that the state is working on a program to manage deer CWD.

One option is to increase the hunting quota for stags, which are considered to be more prevalent than females due to rutting behavior in contact with infected feces and urine.

“Another very important thing is to avoid food and things like food. We want to limit contact and try to reduce infections that way,” Stasiak said. rice field.