Province Asking for Deer, Moose, Elk Heads for CWD Testing

With deer hunting season getting underway in the province, the government is once again asking hunters to submit the heads of deer, moose, and elk harvested this season for Chronic Wasting Disease (CWD) testing.

CWD is a fatal, infectious and incurable central nervous system disease that affects members of the deer family, though some members are more susceptible than others.

Rick Espie is a wildlife health specialist with the Ministry of Environment.

"We have around on average 30 percent prevalence in Mule Deer that we test. Of course, mule deer across the province tend to be more situated in the southwest corner of the province. They tend to have the highest prevalence of CWD amongst the different species. Whitetail deer would be next as they have about 7 percent prevalence. Elks are at only about 3 percent prevalence. And moose, I think we had one positive sample in out of about 120 or so that were tested last year."

This year, they are particularly interested in deer from Wildlife Management Zones (WMZ) 2W, 9,10,35 and 37 (see attached map).

While heads from all WMZs are welcome, the southwest in particular where mule deer are the most prevalent is one of the ministry's focus for the year.

Espie added that hunters in the province have been traditionally supportive of the testing program.

"Last year we had around 3,300 heads turned in of deer, moose and elk; both whitetail, mule deer and elk. And this year we are sort of predicting maybe a 25 percent increase in that, so maybe you know 4,000 to 4,500 heads."

He said that trophy hunters who are concerned with giving up the head of their kill need not worry, as the parts that are used for testing are the lymph nodes at the base of the neck and the brain stem at the base of the skull. Removing the antlers does not affect their ability to test for CWD.

He stressed as well that there has not been a case of a human contracting the disease through eating the meat of an infected animal. However, the ministry still cautions against it, just in case.

"We advise hunters to not consume meat until it's been tested if they can at all. And certainly, if an animal tests positive, the messaging is - and this is consistent across the United States and Canada - to not consume that animal if it tests positive for CWD."

In order to drop off heads for testing, hunters should obtain their CWD tracking number here. Testing is free of charge.

The first case of CWD was found in 1996 on a wild game farm and made the jump to the wild four years later in 2000. Testing has been going on each hunting season since.