Sask. looks to hunt down wasting disease

SASKATOON The province of Saskatchewan wants hunters to help slow the spread of chronic wasting disease (CWD).

To do so, it’s asking them to test their animals before consuming them. The call follows a bump in recorded case counts to 528 positive cases from 3,299 samples last year from 328 positive cases from 2,000 samples in 2018.

That accounts for 55 of Saskatchewan’s 83 wildlife management zones. The spike in recorded cases is due to more collected samples, said Richard Espie, a wildlife health specialist with the ministry of environment. Actual prevalence among animals is likely stable.

“This is not a fast-moving disease,” Espie said. “It’s slowly increased from way back in 2000. The prevalence has crept up.”

CWD is a fatal nervous system disease. An animal can appear normal for years before warning signs like weight loss and poor co-ordination take effect before its death.

Cases of CWD tend to be concentrated among mule deer in the south of Saskatchewan, Espie said.

Last year, about seven per cent of whitetail deer, three per cent of elk and one moose out of 120 tested positive. About 30 per cent of mule deer tested positive.

To slow the spread, the province has hired more technicians to test animal results. It has also introduced dumpsters to dispose of animal carcasses. That’s because leaving bodies out or moving them to another location could increase risk of spread.

The province further aims to reduce animal populations in given areas to limit spread, in addition to the focus on testing.

In 2019, wildlife groups expressed concern over game farms spreading CWD, but Espie said the farms were limited to introducing the disease to Saskatchewan in 1996, years before CWD first appeared in the wild in 2000.

Since then, rates have been roughly similar between animals in farms or in the wild, he added.

Darrell Crabbe, executive director of the Saskatchewan Wildlife Association (SWA), said he’s more concerned with limiting the disease’s spread to other jurisdictions. His worry is game farms may be transporting infected animals to other provinces.

Movement and spread of the disease is a “grave concern” for his association, Crabbe said.

As a response, he encouraged hunters to test heads with the province and participate in the government’s new mandatory hunter survey. With most populations up this year, Crabbe said it should be a good year for hunters as long as they do their part.

“We won’t eradicate this disease, but we’ll hopefully get it under control,” he said.