B.C. enhances measures to curb spread of deadly deer disease

The province of B.C. is taking more steps toward the management of chronic wasting disease (CWD) after it was first discovered in the Kootenays in January of this year. 

Chronic wasting disease is a fatal infection that affects cervids, or species in the deer family, such as mule deer, white-tailed deer, elk, moose and caribou.

It was discovered in January in two deer in the Kootenay region near Cranbrook.

The province is implementing further restrictions, including updated hunting regulations in the Kootenays, management of urban deer populations, and the creation of a long-term management plan. 

Adam Ford, a professor at the University of British Columbia Okanagan who sits on the provincial advisory committee for chronic wasting disease, says the province is looking to increase the sampling effort and slow the movement of carcasses. 

"Hunters are a big part of the solution here," he told CBC News. 

Updated hunting regulations 

According to a Friday news release, B.C. is updating and enhancing hunting regulations, similar to regulations that are in place for road-killed cervids.

The new regulations apply to a chronic wasting disease management zone that includes 14 wildlife management units in the Kootenay Region. 

Management units are set by the province. There are 225 in B.C. created for game management. 

In the Kootenays, CWD regulations have been added to management units 4-1 to 4-8 and 4-20 to 4-25. 

"This zone boundary was defined based on animal movement, connectivity and proximity to known CWD cases in B.C., Montana and Alberta," the province said in its statement. 

"The regulations are set up to make sure that people who harvest deer submit the parts of the carcass that government biologists can use to test for chronic wasting disease," added Ford.

"It's all in an effort to increase our surveillance and monitoring of the disease."

Managing urban deer

The Ministry of Water, Land and Resource Stewardship says it will be working with First Nations and local governments to address the risk of chronic wasting disease in urban deer populations in Cranbrook and Kimberley.

Ford said urban deer are at greater risk of spreading the disease and need to be managed properly.

The province said the work will include "selective sampling and removal of urban deer in the two communities in fall 2024 and winter 2024-25 to understand the extent of CWD in these populations".

In an emailed statement to CBC News, a spokesperson for the ministry said that the plan would not include a "widespread removal" or relocation but rather harvesting. 

"Sampling and removal targets will be based on our shared management and surveillance objectives and informed by population size and density," the ministry spokesperson said. 

"We are also not considering relocation because moving potentially infected animals can lead to further disease spread at a time when we are trying to reduce spread. "

The ministry says that all of the deer involved will be tested for chronic wasting disease, but because testing cannot be performed on live deer, it will take place through "humane harvesting." 

Creating a management plan

The province says it also plans to create a long-term management plan.

Ford says that means shifting from a surveillance plan to active management and working with local, provincial, federal and First Nations governments in an "adaptive way."

The province will use the information gathered over the past several months and during the ongoing response to inform the management plan moving forward. 

The Ministry of Water, Land and Resource Stewardship says that no further positive tests have yet been found through the surveillance program.

"This suggests that the disease has been detected early and is affecting a small proportion of the population," it said in its statement. 

"Without active management, the disease will continue to spread and lead to irreversible impacts to cervid populations."