Slaughtering thousands of Saskatchewan’s wild deer starting “yesterday” is the only way to control the spread of chronic wasting disease, says a panel of experts.
Deer in parts of Saskatchewan must be eradicated, game farms isolated and transportation of all deer species heavily restricted, said a report released July 30.
Francois Messier of the University of Saskatchewan chaired the panel and called CWD in wild deer a catastrophe in the making.
“Governments need to act yesterday. Tomorrow cannot be soon enough,” he said.
“It will cost about the same to deal with as CWD in farmed deer did. Fifty to $60 million was spent on the farmed deer (CWD) eradication. It worked well there and will work for wild populations too,” Messier said.
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CWD was traced to 46 Saskatchewan game farms where herds were eliminated and producers compensated. Since that program ended, no case of CWD has been found on a Saskatchewan farm but lost export markets for deer products and breeding stock have devastated the industry.
Over the past three years, Saskatchewan Environment has found 34 CWD infected wild deer, with 29 coming from the Saskatchewan Landing park area north of Swift Current, said Dave Brewster of the department.
The panel was requested and funded by the Canadian Wildlife Federation and Environment Canada. Comprising researchers from Canada, Australia, the United States and Belgium, the team had expertise in transmissible spongiform encephalopathy diseases, as well as chronic wasting disease in U.S. deer populations and herd epidemiology.
But the report’s credibility is being questioned by deer producers such as Mark Bencze of Paddockwood, Sask.
“The wildlife federations paid for the report that was designed to deliver what they wanted it to,” said Bencze, a member of the Saskatchewan Whitetail and Mule Deer Association.
“They didn’t contact members of the industry. It is flawed,” he said.
Origins of the disease in Saskatchewan remain a mystery. However, the panel believes it is likely that CWD was introduced through game farming over the past 30 years because the concentrations of infected animals are close to formerly infected farms, said Messier.
Reduction of deer populations to one per sq. kilometre in winter from the current five, through a professional hunt by environment officers, would be the most effective method, he said.
The report said three of the most infected areas require such a slaughter – north of Lloydminster, in the St. Walburg area; along the Alberta border near Macklin, Sask.; and north of Swift Current along the South Saskatchewan River in the Saskatchewan Landing area.
Game farmers may be the hardest hit because the report calls for tighter controls on the movement of farmed deer species, double fencing around game farms and higher fences.
Antler velvet brought most producers into the industry when it brought more than $100 per pound. Today that price is close to $10 and producers say they can’t afford to spend more on fencing.
Messier said unless the report’s findings are acted on immediately, the future of farm-raised deer in Canada is in jeopardy.
“It might be the same for hunters coming to Saskatchewan from other places. If we have the disease widely spread in the population, we may hurt that industry too,” he said.
