ONTARIO-The Ontario’s Government is enhancing surveillance measures to protect wildlife from the risk of chronic wasting disease, following a confirmed case of the disease in Quebec.
“We are taking immediate action to protect the health of deer in Ontario. Planned surveillance is already underway in southwestern Ontario and we are adding to current efforts by deploying additional surveillance teams near the Quebec border,” said Minister of Natural Resources and Forestry, Jeff Yurek.
Chronic wasting disease is a progressive, fatal disease of the nervous system of deer, elk, moose and caribou. To date, there have been no confirmed cases of the disease in any wild animal in Ontario. “Chronic wasting disease has never been detected in wild deer in Ontario and we want to keep it that way. We are mobilizing additional teams to test deer for the disease and adding new public drop off locations east of Ottawa to the Quebec border. I urge hunters to take advantage of this convenient way to participate in protecting Ontario’s wildlife,” Yurek encouraged.
During the firearm hunts, roving crews of ministry wildlife research technicians visit hunt camps and request samples from harvested deer. The research technicians will ask the hunter’s permission to remove a small amount of tissue from the head area of the deer for analysis. The deer will then be returned to the hunter. Sampling will not prevent hunters from consuming the meat or having the head mounted.
 photo credit: sniggie Green grass on Mammoth’s ground via photopin (license)
