3rd deer infected with chronic wasting disease

A new case of chronic wasting disease, an incurable illness that has the potential to decimate deer populations, has been identified in British Columbia.

The B.C. Ministry of Water, Land and Resource Stewardship said the discovery of the infection in a white-tailed deer hunted in the Kootenay region last month brought the total number of confirmed cases in the province to three, after two cases were confirmed in February. 

It said testing by a Canadian Food Inspection Agency lab confirmed the latest infection on Wednesday.

The ministry said the new case occurred within two kilometres of one of the earlier infections in a white-tailed deer near Cranbrook.

The latest infection has prompted the B.C. Wildlife Federation to call for urban deer populations in the Kootenays to be "aggressively reduced."

The federation said in a statement that such deer are "a significant vector for the spread of chronic wasting disease."

"We’ve had two positives near Cranbrook and have been concerned about the proliferation of urban deer populations around towns as they are high density, in contact with each other and represent high risk for CWD and other diseases," said Jesse Zeman, executive director of the federation.

"We now have two positive samples near Cranbrook -- reducing deer in and around the cities makes sense."

The government already announced in July that it was planning to remove urban deer from Cranbrook and Kimberley as part of its strategy to limit the spread of the disease, with the removals slated to begin this fall.

The government also introduced mandatory testing for the disease in deer, elk and moose killed in certain zones in the Kootenay region, while a targeted hunt was conducted, killing 50 deer but detecting no infections.

However, the federation said it was concerned that "chronic underfunding" would hamper detection and containment efforts.

It said no additional dedicated funding was directed to the disease in the last provincial budget.

Wasting disease affects deer, elk, moose and caribou. It attacks their central nervous system and causes cell death in the brain.

The ministry said there is no treatment or vaccine and the disease is always fatal.

The ministry said there was no direct evidence the disease could be transmitted to humans, but Health Canada recommends people do not eat meat from an infected animal, since cooking is not able to destroy the abnormal protein that causes the illness. 

The first two cases identified in B.C. were a male mule deer killed by a hunter and a female white-tailed deer killed in a road accident.