With hunting season less than a month away, deer hunters are reminded of the seriousness of Chronic Wasting Disease (CWD).
The Alberta Government has added Wildlife Management Units (WMU) on the northwest and southwest sides of Drumheller to the list of mandatory testing for CWD.
CWD is a brain disease that mainly deer and white-tailed deer contract. It has been around for a number of years, District Fish and Wildlife Officer Jeff Zimmer told The Mail, and has begun to spread west from Saskatchewan.
“It continues to spread, to the point where now most of the zones around Drumheller, have a monitoring program in place. What that means is that in the zones around Drumheller it is mandatory that people submit their deer heads for testing,” Zimmer explained.
He mentioned that once a person has shot a deer, they are required to submit the head for testing. During hunting season a special freezer will be set up in Drumheller for hunters to drop off their deer heads. Each of the heads must have a green CWD label filled out and attached to them. Once they are submitted, Zimmer said the heads are sent to Edmonton for testing.
Zimmer added that if a hunter’s deer comes back with a positive result, the person will be notified.
Last year, 86 heads out of 4,000 tested positive for CWD. Zimmer continued by saying that if results did come back positive, it is up to the person if they want to bring the meat to be disposed of or keep it.
Zimmer said tests have been conducted in the United States on people who have eaten meat from deer who tested positive for CWD and have found no transfer to humans so far.
Zimmer also says it is mandatory for hunters to submit deer heads, but is voluntary to submit elk and moose heads. He said if hunters are concerned with submitting trophy heads, there are ways to work around that.
“The biologist will actually take the whole head, test it and then send the head back to the hunter,” he said.
He added it has been found that deer who tend to have CWD often stay around ditches or in urban areas because there are less predators.
“The important thing with CWD is that we are trying to isolate it to certain areas,” Zimmer said, explaining that often in the spring people will pick up orphaned fawns and take them to the rehab centre near Innisfail, which is outside Drumheller's WMU.
“Unfortunately, because we are in a Chronic Wasting Disease zone now, we can’t take any injured deer out of the zone,” Zimmer explained.
For more information on CWD and submitting deer heads, visit www.mywildalberta.com or contact Zimmer at the Drumheller Fish and Wildlife Enforcement Branch at 403-823-1670.
