Chronic Wasting Disease (CWD) has potentially been detected in the Okanagan.
The B.C. government said samples were gathered from a male white-tailed deer harvested east of Enderby and submitted to the Canadian Food Inspection Agency. Results confirming whether it is CWD are expected by early December.
It is the first potential detection of CWD identified outside the province’s existing management zone in the East Kootenay, which has seen six confirmed cases since the disease was first detected in 2024.
The province said initial testing of the carcass by the Animal Health Centre detected prions, which are abnormal proteins that may indicate the sample is positive for CWD.
The B.C. Wildlife Federation explained that when these prions accumulate, they cause death in the brain and neurological disease, which is 100-per-cent fatal. Prions also accumulate in other tissues and may be shed by the infected animal into water or on plants and bedding through saliva, urine and feces.
A provincial wildlife veterinarian has assembled an incident management team made up of provincial and First Nations partners to prepare for the next steps.
The team plans to engage with hunters and partner organizations to share information and guide the next phase of response.
In the meantime, the province and the B.C. Wildlife Federation are asking hunters across B.C., particularly in the Okanagan, to submit samples from any deer harvested to a provincial dropoff location.
“It’s really important that hunters continue to hunt and to submit heads for testing, even outside the mandatory submission zone in the Kootenays,” said B.C. Wildlife Federation executive director Jesse Zeman in a news release. “The more data we collect the better we can manage the situation.”
Sample submissions are mandatory in the Kootenay region, but voluntary in other parts of B.C.
The province said without hunter involvement, the scale of surveillance and management required to respond to CWD would not be possible.
“People are strongly encouraged to continue submitting samples from deer, elk and moose harvested in B.C. to help build understanding of where the disease is present,” said the province.
There is no direct evidence CWD can be transmitted to humans, but Health Canada and the World Health Organization recommend people avoid eating meat from an infected animal.
Of the six confirmed cases of CWD in B.C., three were harvested by licensed hunters and one was identified through targeted sampling of urban deer.
For more than 20 years, the B.C. government has undertaken surveillance and preventive measures regarding this disease, with targeted efforts in high-risk areas including the Kootenay region, which is adjacent to existing outbreaks in Alberta, Montana and Idaho.
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