Columbia Valley Pioneer staff
New cases of chronic wasting disease (CWD) are worrying the BC Wildlife Federation (BCWF), which is urging continued action to fight the infection among deer in the Kootenay region.
The BCWF says the provincial government should employ a managed hunt to collect 100 samples for CWD testing from Cranbrook, Kimberley, and Creston to better understand the prevalence of the disease.
“CWD is becoming more prevalent . . .” said BCWF Executive Director Jesse Zeman. “Cranbrook and other towns in the East Kootenays are perfect vectors for CWD as they have high densities of urban deer.”
The BCWF is concerned that chronic underfunding and a backlog of samples submitted by hunters will hamper efforts to detect and contain this fatal disease. Hundreds of samples from deer submitted by hunters in southeastern B.C. are waiting to be tested, but the BCWF says no additional dedicated funding was allocated for CWD in the last provincial budget.
“Urban deer populations in towns like Kimberley, Cranbrook and Creston need to be dramatically reduced immediately and the province needs a dedicated funding mechanism to ensure that we can adequately address this problem,” Zeman said.
He noted that city deer have a small range and relatively high density, living in close quarters with frequent contact, which makes them a perfect vector for disease.
“Because deer may contract the disease but remain symptom-free for months or years, urban deer pose a high risk of dispersing the pathogen,” Zeman pointed out.
More positive tests seem inevitable and the positives to date suggest the area around Cranbrook is becoming a hotspot, the federation says.
The BCWF believes that urban deer populations should be aggressively reduced as they are a significant vector for the spread of CWD. Unfortunately, little testing has been done on urban deer populations, according to the federation.
Young bucks may contract the disease and then leave the area seeking mates and uncontested range. Therefore, an aggressive program to test and reduce urban deer populations is essential to curtail the spread of CWD, says the BCWF.
“Hunters have been actively engaged in sampling and turning in heads to do their part to identify prevalence and continue to be diligent about following new transportation (rules) for cervids, such as deer, elk and moose,” Zeman noted.
Along with greater cooperation from hunters, testing turnaround times have improved, the BCWF reports.
The federation has strongly recommended a managed hunt to contain CWD before it spreads north to more vulnerable cervid populations, such as caribou.
