Backlogs stagnating disease testing in cervids

Hey there, time traveller!
This article was published 06/01/2023 (1042 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

Wait times for results are up to three times longer than usual at a provincial lab in Dauphin where animal carcasses are tested for chronic wasting disease.

The Dauphin lab has a backlog of more than 400 samples, or animal heads, that have been submitted by hunters who are required to do so by law.

A team of five biologists and technicians are conducting a portion of the testing for CWD and, in the words of a wildlife health biologist for Manitoba, they are swamped.

Rich Davis said there are several reasons for the delays. A primary issue is that there is not enough lab space to work or to thaw the animal heads, which have been frozen to prevent decomposition. But there are also limitations with the testing that can be done in Dauphin.

“We don’t have any accredited labs in Manitoba that can do that kind of analysis,” Davis said.

The samples are sent from Dauphin to other labs across the country, including the Canadian Food Inspection Agency near Ottawa, the University of Guelph in Ontario, and Saskatoon-based Prairie Diagnostic Services. But Davis pointed out that each of those labs are maxed out themselves, which has added to the backlog.

There are 51 depots across the province, making it convenient for hunters to drop the samples off, which are then collected by workers and brought to the lab in Dauphin.

Brad Kirkpatrick with the Brandon Wildlife Association, an organization that advocates for public awareness about hunting and conservation, is among the contractors who pick up and drop off the samples. When hunters submit a sample, they are required to fill out a form that includes their hunting licence number and information about where they killed the animal.

“The depots have a secured freezer where the heads have been dropped off,” Kirkpatrick said. “Some have had a taxidermist remove the specific nodes.”

He emphasized the importance of tracing the disease, but said not every hunter takes it as seriously as they should.

“Even though it’s mandatory to submit samples, I would guess that a good many hunters would ignore that and just toss the hide and head in the bush, as they probably always have done,” he said.

“And so, I would hope that people in general would take it seriously and make the effort to drop off their samples as required so we can get a better grip or handle on the progression of CWD.”

Chronic wasting disease is a highly contagious, fatal condition, but it is not known how it spreads. It affects members of the cervid species, including all deer, moose and elk. Animals with CWD may exhibit excessive salivation, sudden weight loss and paralysis.

It’s a slow, chronic disease that will kill the animal just as it’s hitting its prime, Davis said.

“Mature bucks, mature does, they’ve learned how to avoid predators, yet they die before reproducing,” Davis said. “The herd population begins to dwindle because of that. If that takes hold, we won’t see mature animals anymore.”

The CWD surveillance program was introduced in Manitoba in 1997. A year earlier, it was found on an elk farm in Saskatchewan and since then, cases have spread to deer populations in Alberta.

But it wasn’t until 2021 and 2022 that CWD reached Manitoba and five cases were confirmed.

Four of the CWD cases came from the Dropmore area, about 285 kilometres northwest of Brandon. Another was located near Coulter, 155 km southwest of Brandon.

There are specific zones where it’s mandatory for hunters to submit samples of harvested mule and white-tailed deer, moose and elk.

Recently, the zones were expanded and now include areas along the Manitoba-Saskatchewan border, between Manitoba and North Dakota, the southwest corner of Ontario and around the edges of Riding Mountain National Park.

The hunting season was also extended for mule deer to Feb. 4 in the hopes of bringing in more samples from hunters.

Staff at RMNP are always on alert for potential cases of CWD, said Parks Canada. When wolf kills or dead animals are found, staff will take samples but do not do any testing at their lab located inside the park. To prevent possible cross-contamination, and to protect animals from infection, the samples are sent to other labs for testing.

In February, RMNP will conduct additional and in-depth surveys on its animals, looking for possible signs of CWD.

» mmcdougall@brandonsun.com