200 urban deer to be killed in B.C. cities in effort to stop spread of chronic wasting disease

The province of B.C. has announced plans to cull urban deer living in the Kootenay area, near the B.C.-Alberta border, in an attempt to stop the spread of chronic wasting disease (CWD).

The condition, which has a 100 per cent fatality rate, has been spreading throughout the region after being detected for the first time ever in the province last year.

Attacking the brain, it spreads in populations of deer that share the same spaces, which is why the province has said urban populations are of particular concern as more animals mix together in smaller spaces.

WATCH | Cases of chronic wasting disease spurs cull of urban deer in B.C.: 

B.C. set to cull hundreds of deer to curb deadly deer disease in the East Kootenays

4 days ago

Duration 1:54

A fifth case of a deadly deer disease has been found near Cranbrook. The first case was identified last January in the East Kootenay region and more continue to pop up. The province says it's working to manage the spread. As CBC's Corey Bullock reports, B.C. says it's set to cull 200 deer in Cranbrook and Kimberley to test for the disease.

B.C.'s Ministry of Water, Land and Resource Stewardship says there is no direct evidence that the disease can spread to humans, nor have there been any instances of it being found in humans. 

The threat of the disease can be seen in the neighbouring province of Alberta, where cases of CWD were rare a decade ago but are exploding today, with some parts of the province recording infection rates of 50 to 85 per cent.

The cull, set for Feb. 18-28, will target the cities of Cranbrook and Kimberley, with 100 deer in each location to be killed and tested.

Lands Minister Randene Neill said the focus of the cull is not so much to control the population, but to be able to gather a large sample to determine the extent to which the disease is present in urban populations.

She said it will be carried out using tranquillizers and sharpshooters.

In all, five deer around Kimberley and Cranbrook have tested positive for CWD, but all of those cases have been in wildlife areas rather than in the cities themselves.

Jesse Zeman, executive director of the B.C. Wildlife Federation, says his organization supports the efforts as a way to determine if the disease has spread to urban areas and help guide next steps.

The government has also announced a special permitted hunt will be taking place in wildlife areas around Cranbrook to further attempt to curb the spread of CWD.