Forestry farm deer had chronic wasting disease

A male white-tail deer, recently brought to the Saskatoon Forestry Farm Park and Zoo, has tested positive for chronic wasting disease, a highly contagious infection among deer, elk and moose populations.

The animal had to be euthanized, to determine if it had the condition. Officials decided to proceed because the deer came from a farm that had a confirmed case of CWD.

"Although the disease is very contagious within the deer family population, there is no scientific proof that the disease is transferable to people or other mammals," officials from the farm said in a news release Friday. "So the Saskatoon Forestry Farm Park & Zoo remains open and safe for the public."

The farm also euthanized six other deer that had been in contact with the infected animal to determine if the disease had spread. None of those animals tested positive.

"There is no vaccine or cure for CWD, and the only way to test for the disease is from brain tissue from a deceased animal," the farm noted.

The seven animals that were euthanized comprised all of the white-tail deer at the farm. Other species of deer at the farm were not in contact with the diseased animal.

Staff are also using precautions, such as wearing disposable boots, when dealing with other animals to ensure the disease does not spread.

The farm is also going through an extensive cleaning of all the areas where the deer was kept.

John Moran, the farm's manager, told CBC News Friday that it will be several months before white-tail deer are reintroduced to the farm, possibly in the late summer or fall of 2011.

CWD was first detected in the wild deer population in Saskatchewan in 1996, and remains an active disease within the population.