A Manitoba elk farm remains under quarantine while provincial and federal officials try to determine if any of its animals were exposed to chronic wasting disease.
The quarantine was put in place in early December after officials from the Canadian Food Inspection Agency determined that elk on the Manitoba farm may have come in contact with elk originating from an infected Saskatchewan ranch.
The exact location of the Manitoba farm has not been made public, but CFIA officials confirmed it is in the Swan River area, about 350 kilometres north of Brandon, near the Manitoba-Saskatchewan border.
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Unlike Saskatchewan and Alberta, Manitoba has never had a confirmed case of CWD in farmed or wild elk.
Wayne Lees, Manitoba’s chief veterinary officer, said the quarantine is a precautionary measure that prohibits animal movement while an investigation takes place.
A routine traceout is being conducted by the CFIA, which is in charge of monitoring the disease.
“We’ve (not) yet found CWD in a Manitoba elk,” Lees said.
“At this point, we’re simply trying to determine if there was any herd or animal movement between the Manitoba farm and an infected Saskatchewan farm. There’s been no firm linkages made yet.”
Krista Howden, a transmissible spongiform encephalopathy specialist with the CFIA in Edmonton, said the Manitoba quarantine was established after three animals from an elk farm near Swift Current, Sask., tested positive for CWD in November.
According to Howden, a traceout of the Swift Current farm’s animals determined that 50 elk from the ranch were sold to an elk breeder and hunt farm operator near Swan River.
The Swan River operator owns facilities on both sides of the Manitoba-Saskatchewan border, including three hunt farms in Saskatchewan and a breeding facility in Manitoba.
Howden said CFIA officials believe the 50 Swift Current animals were taken to the Swan River operator’s Saskatchewan hunt farms. However, as of Jan. 18, only nine of the 50 animals had been accounted for.
“When we say unaccounted for, I just want to be clear that we don’t mean they have escaped,” Howden said.
“They could very well have died on the premise or they could have been hunted out. We’re just working with the producer now to get all of those records.”
Although no animal movements have been confirmed between the Manitoba breeding facility and the Saskatchewan hunt farms, news of the Manitoba quarantine has caused concern among conservation groups and some elk farmers.
John Williams, president of the Manitoba Wildlife Federation, called the quarantine a “major, major concern” to federation members.
He said officials took too long to conduct an inventory of the animals at the quarantined facilities.
“Why hasn’t an audit been done by both the Manitoba and Saskatchewan departments of agriculture to account for these 41 missing animals?”
Williams also said his organization has received reports of tagged elk that have escaped from holding pens.
Howden said the CFIA received one report of escaped elk, but that incident is believed to have occurred at the Manitoba breeding facility and not at the Saskatchewan hunt farms.
Lees said it is possible domestic elk may have come into contact with wild elk in the area, but government officials have no reason to believe that has happened.
Ian Thorliefson, president of the Manitoba Elk Growers Association, said news of the quarantine, while unfortunate, should not be viewed as a major blow to the industry.
“First of all, the situation at this point does not involve the disease in Manitoba,” he said. “We have not confirmed CWD in any of the herds of concern (in the Swan River area).”
Thorliefson also said that as knowledge of CWD grows, concerns about the disease decimating wild elk populations or the farmed elk industry have subsided.
With current control measures in place, CWD can be diagnosed and controlled quickly among farmed elk herds, he said.
“I think we’re getting to the point now … where we should take a deep breath and not be so frightened and deal with this disease in a rational manner.”
Thorliefson said the most disconcerting thing about this case is that the disease appeared inexplicably on a Swift Current area ranch that was following approved control strategies.
“How the disease appeared on the Swift Current farm is a real bother because that farm was fully in compliance with all of what we thought were the best control measures aimed at preventing CWD from occurring,” he said. “For that Swift Current test to come up positive was a real disappointment.”
According to Howden, CFIA inventories will help determine how many of the Swift Current animals were bagged by hunt farm customers.
The export of meat and antlers from animals killed on Saskatchewan hunt farms is regulated by provincial authorities.
“Products that are exported are exported under provincial export certificates so it would be up to the province to determine how they’re going to proceed with that,” she said.
All elk slaughtered in Saskatchewan must be tested for CWD.
Elk producers are also required to obtain movement permits before they can transport elk in or out of the province.
The vast majority of movement permits between the two provinces involve farmed elk en route to slaughter facilities, said Lees.
“For all practical purposes, (farmed elk) tend not to be moved between provinces, except in the case of slaughter animals,” he said.
