IronNoggin
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Potential chronic wasting disease detected in Okanagan deer
A potential chronic wasting disease case has been detected in an Okanagan deer.The province is now responding to the potential case in a male white-tailed deer harvested east of Enderby.
CWD is an infectious and fatal disease affecting species in the cervid family, such as deer, elk, moose and caribou.
Initial testing by the provincial animal health laboratory may indicate CWD in the deer sample. The sample has now been submitted to the Canadian Food Inspection Agency (CFIA) for further testing. Results are expected by early December.
The province will update the public if the CFIA confirms the sample to be positive for CWD.
The B.C. Wildlife Federation is asking hunters across the province and especially in the Okanagan to submit samples from any deer they harvest to a provincial drop-off location. Sample submissions are currently mandatory in management units in the Kootenays. In other parts of B.C., submission is voluntary.
“It’s really important that hunters continue to hunt and to submit heads for testing, even outside the mandatory submission zone in the Kootenays,” said B.C. Wildlife Federation executive director Jesse Zeman. “The more data we collect the better we can manage the situation.”
This is the first potential detection in the Okanagan and the first identified outside B.C.'s existing CWD management zone in the Kootenay region.
As part of B.C.'s Surveillance and Response Plan for CWD, the provincial wildlife veterinarian has assembled an incident management team made up of provincial and First Nation partners to prepare for potential next steps ahead of the CFIA's test result.
The B.C. Wildlife Federation says hunters are essential to this process.
"Without hunter involvement, the scale of surveillance and management required to respond to CWD would not be possible," says an email from the BCWF.
There is no direct evidence that the disease can be transmitted to humans, and there have been no cases of the disease in humans.
However, to prevent any potential risk of transmission or illness, Health Canada and the World Health Organization recommend that people not eat meat or other parts of an animal infected with CWD.
To date, there have been six confirmed cases of CWD in B.C.
Potential chronic wasting disease detected in Okanagan deer - Vernon News
Potential chronic wasting disease detected in Okanagan deer near Enderby.
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