Cases of chronic wasting disease confirmed in B.C.'s Kootenays

Two cases of chronic wasting disease have been confirmed in B.C.'s Kootenay region, prompting a targeted provincial response aimed at minimizing spread.

The Ministry of Water, Land and Resource Stewardship said the cases were identified in two deer samples collected south of Cranbrook.

"The first sample was from a harvested adult male mule deer. The second sample was from an adult female white-tailed deer that was struck on the road," the ministry said in a news release Thursday.

Both cases were confirmed by the Canadian Food Inspection Agency's reference laboratory on Wednesday.

Chronic wasting disease is fatal and incurable in deer, elk, moose, caribou and other members of the cervid family, but the ministry noted there is "no direct evidence that the disease can be transmitted to humans, and there have been no cases of the disease in humans."

Health Canada still recommends that people don’t eat “meat or other parts” of any animal that was infected with chronic wasting disease.

"We're told if your animal tests positive for CWD, you need to dispose of it and they don’t recommend consuming it,” said Jesse Zeman, executive director of the BC Wildlife Federation. “Of course as a hunter, wasting meat is a pretty big deal in our world.”

Zeman said the province’s approach relies heavily on hunters.

"You would take the head of the animal and drop it off at a storage area, which are usually deep freezes that the BC Wildlife Federation or our members have paid for, and then it goes off for testing,” he said. “We need to see the government of B.C. step up with millions of dollars to do a much better job monitoring to turn around test times more quickly and try to get ahead of this."

The B.C. government said it’s launching an early response targeting a 10-kilometre radius from the confirmed cases that will focus on gathering details and minimizing potential transmission.

"People in the initial response area should remain attentive for further directions, including … the handling of carcasses," the ministry wrote.

According to the B.C. chapter of Backcountry Hunter and Anglers, the process of testing samples from sick animals can be lengthy.

"Unfortunately there's no testing in B.C., so all this testing has to get done remotely,” said Alan Duffy, who chairs the group. "It's very concerning because there's no known cure, there's no way to contain it and it's fatal."

The disease has been detected in other parts of Canada as well, including in Alberta, which recorded its first case in 2005. Manitoba didn't confirm a case until 2021.

Officials asked anyone who sees a deer, elk, moose or caribou exhibiting symptoms of chronic wasting disease – such as weight loss, drooling, poor co-ordination, stumbling, or general sickness without an obvious reason – to contact the Report All Poachers and Polluters hotline at 1-877-952-7277.