Four Saskatchewan elk herds are under quarantine because of Chronic Wasting Disease.
One of the herds, which had one animal develop CWD in 1998 and another sicken in March 2000, will be exterminated and all the animals studied so scientists can attempt to unravel the secret of how the disease operates within a herd.
The fate of the three other herds has not been determined.
CWD is not a reportable disease and there is no standing policy for dealing with it.
The four new cases all came to light since March. Veterinarians from the Canadian Food Inspection Agency are not sure if the cases are linked.
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“There’s a lot that’s not known about this disease,” said Brian Peart, a veterinarian with the agency.
All 64 animals in the twice-struck herd will be exterminated and tested. After the first animal was found sick with CWD in 1998, it was killed but the rest of its herd was left alive.
The sick animal had just arrived from another herd. The CFIA tracked down all of its close relatives in another herd and destroyed them. None of these animals tested positive for CWD. The locations of the herds were not disclosed.
The agency, working with the Canadian Venison Council, hopes to use the data from this herd to develop a program to deal with future outbreaks of CWD, which is now treated on a case-by-case basis.
The disease first appeared along a forested area of the Colorado-Wyoming border more than 20 years ago. Since then it has been found in South Dakota and Montana. A couple of isolated incidents have occurred in Saskatchewan, but there have been no widespread problems.
CWD is the elk equivalent of mad cow disease. It destroys the animal’s brain, often producing bizarre, repetitive behaviors before death.
Though the disease spreads slowly and does not cause major losses, its similarity to mad cow disease has made the elk industry wary and eager to prevent it from becoming established in Canada.
The agency plans to make CWD a reportable disease, but is still developing its program. The analysis of the animals in the exterminated herd will help design control measures.
“We’re going to take specimens of everything we can to look at how the different tests react,” said Peart.
All four recent animals were identified by their owners, who contacted the agency. The owner of the herd that will be exterminated has not been allowed to trade animals since 1998, but has helped the agency with its work.
“The owner has been extremely co-operative with us,” said Peart.
