Chronic Wasting Disease Surveillance Response Programs in Alberta

Last Review/Updated: January 4, 2007

Program Overview

Surveillance: In Alberta, programs that deal with CWD surveillance are developed co-operatively between Alberta Agriculture, Food, and Rural Development (AFRD) and Alberta Sustainable Resources Development (SRD). Surveillance programs, i.e., programs to look for the disease, have two primary aspects:

  • survey of farmed elk and deer
  • survey of wild elk and deer

Programs aimed at farmed cervids are conducted by the Agri-Food Surveillance Systems Branch and the Diversified Livestock Branch of AFRD. Programs involving wildlife are conducted by the Fish and Wildlife Division of SRD. The Alberta surveillance programs began in 1996 and summary data are provided at http://www1.agric.gov.ab.ca/$department/deptdocs.nsf/all/cpv9448. Current laboratory tests are based on microscopic and immunologic examination of a specific site in the brain and/or lymph nodes. The tests used in Alberta meet international standards for diagnosis of CWD.

Response: Where CWD is found in the wild or where there is reason to believe there is increased risk of the disease being present in wild populations, three primary tools are applied:

  • increased recreational harvest opportunities
  • herd reduction programs
  • increased public information and education

Public Health Concerns

Alberta accepts the current advice from local and international public health officials that there is no known health concern associated with CWD; however, persons should not knowingly consume meat of animals known to be infected with the disease.

Farmed Cervids

The Alberta agriculture department works closely with the cervid industry to develop programs to look for CWD in farmed cervids. Current programs include mandatory examination of heads of farmed elk or deer at least one year old that die for any reason, including slaughter. Meat from slaughter animals is held until negative test results are determined at the lab and then forwarded to the slaughter plant. In addition, importation of captive elk and deer into Alberta occurs only under stringent control and assessment of all disease risks, including CWD. Chronic Wasting Disease became a federal reportable disease in spring 2001 and the Canadian Food Inspection Agency has a national program of CWD surveillance and control in farmed cervids.

Wild Cervids

In 1996, the Fish and Wildlife Division developed a program to assess the presence or absence of CWD in free-ranging elk, mule deer and white-tailed deer in Alberta. The primary objectives are to:

  • collect and analyze heads of wild elk and deer at least one year old for evidence of CWD;
  • to provide surveillance data necessary to assess the risk of CWD occurring in wild populations within the province; and
  • to co-ordinate the program with similar programs in farmed elk and deer.

Surveillance: The Division works co-operatively with user groups, primarily hunters and guides, as well as provincial agriculture staff to achieve these objectives. Programs are based largely on voluntary submission of heads of hunter-killed deer and elk. Additional samples are collected by Fish and Wildlife staff during routine field activities. In April 2001, an emergency collection of deer along the Alberta/Saskatchewan border was implemented in response to the finding of CWD in wild mule deer on the Saskatchewan side of the border. A similar collection program was implemented in February/March 2003 in the vicinity of two game farms in central Alberta where the disease was found in 2002. There is annual surveillance of approximately 250 heads of hunter-killed deer from targeted areas of increased risk or concern.

The wildlife surveillance program currently focuses on three target areas: two portions of the Alberta/Saskatchewan border as well as a small area in central Alberta in the general vicinity of the three cases of CWD in farmed cervids in Alberta (Fact Sheet on the Alberta Border Program). Heads of hunter-killed deer and elk are requested primarily through a communications package to inform hunters via the Hunting in Alberta website, notices sent to draw recipients, direct contact between hunters and Fish and Wildlife staff, as well as materials sent to outdoor magazines, newspaper and radio outlets, hunting licence vendors, and hunting organizations.

Laboratory tests are conducted by the provincial agriculture department and results reported to Fish and Wildlife on an on-going basis. Summary test results are available below. All hunters who submit deer heads taken from our surveillance areas will be informed about test results on their deer. In addition, the public are given a general notification if positive cases are found.

Response: In March 2005 Alberta implemented its first herd reduction program. A total of 486 wild deer were collected in an area of Alberta east of Chauvin (including Dillberry Lake Provincial Park) adjacent to cases of CWD found in nearby Saskatchewan. All deer collected in Alberta were negative for the disease.

In early September 2005, a clinically emaciated deer was confirmed as Alberta's first case of CWD in a wild deer. In September and October 2005, a total of 162 deer were collected in the vicinity of the infected deer. A further two cases were found in these deer.

In early December 2005, Alberta found its first case of CWD in a deer killed by a hunter. Herd reduction programs have been implemented in the vicinity of that case.

From deer collected between January and March 2006, CWD was confirmed in nine wild deer in the vicinity of Empress and Acadia Valley along the Alberta-Saskatchewan border.

Two hunter-killed deer were confirmed December 8, 2006 to have CWD including one near Edgerton and one near Empress.

One hunter-killed deer from south of Chauvin was confirmed December 20, 2006, to have CWD.

One hunter-killed deer from near Chauvin was confirmed January 2, 2007, to have CWD.

All programs are updated and/or revised in response to new research data or field information.

Summary

To date, Alberta's CWD surveillance programs have found 17 cases of CWD in wild cervids in Alberta.

Updates

To date (January 4, 2007), Chronic Wasting Disease has been found in one farmed elk and two farmed white-tailed deer in Alberta. Fourteen cases have been found in wild mule deer near Empress/Acadia Valley, and three cases in mule deer near Edgerton/Chauvin.