Deadly disease caused by the beetle found in farmed Ottawa deer



[ad_1]




Photo of a deer reader who enjoys one of the last days of spring, taken in March 2014.

Calvin D. Hanson / Reader's picture

The debilitating chronic disease in deer was confirmed for the first time in Quebec, on a game farm that led Quebec to cancel the deer hunt in the area north of Grenville, across the street. Hawkesbury.

The Ontario Federation of Fish Harvesters and Hunters says this threat is "huge" for deer and moose from Ontario and Quebec, as well as for hunting.

However, it is not thought that the disease is transmissible to humans.

On September 10, a sick deer was identified on a deer farm, which led the Quebec authorities to kill the 80 deer on the farm and to order the slaughter of 300 wild deer nearby.

Courtesy of the Government of Quebec. Deer hunting is prohibited in the red zone. Hunters in the blue zone may hunt, but they must bring their deer to a sampling for testing.

OTTwp

Chronic debilitating disease, or CDD, is similar to mad cow disease. It is caused by a protein molecule that can not be destroyed or destroyed by drugs or disinfection, and lasts in the environment after the death of the sick animal. It destroys the nervous system of deer, elk, caribou and moose. There is no vaccine or treatment except to kill all infected animals before they can transmit them.

It is not believed that the disease infects humans who contact the deer or eat meat, but research continues. It probably does not affect cattle either.

But the disease is spreading and the Quebec pocket is getting closer to Ontario. It has also been found in western Canada and some northern American states, and has spread through breeding farms when sick but symptomless animals have been purchased and relocated. . Live animals can not be tested for CWD.

"It is considered one of the greatest threats to wildlife in North America," largely because the disease can not be cured or prevented like most other infections, said Federation biologist Keith Munro fishermen and hunters from Ontario.

The disease can spread quickly, he said: a study in Wyoming showed that an infected deer population was extinct at a rate of 19% per year at a time when populations of the same region were stable.

"Everyone should be concerned about the MDC."

Symptoms include weight loss, drooling, disorientation, lack of fear of humans and a posture with a head and falling ears. The disease is always fatal.

The Quebec Ministry of Forests, Wildlife and Parks acted this week to ban deer and moose hunting until November 18 in an area extending north of Grenville, across from Hawkesbury . In a larger area around this, people can still hunt but they must bring all the carcasses to a station where the animals can be examined.

The farm has not been publicly identified.

There are two prevention goals, Munro said. "You want to prevent animal-animal contact" involving a sick deer, "but you also want to present prions (infectious protein molecules) in the environment. The more they lose it, the more there is load in the environment "and the animals that arrive later can catch the disease.

The protein is spread in saliva and urine.

"The great thing about the MDC is that we still have a lot to learn about it.

"Unfortunately, the spread of cervid encephalopathy is what we consider a fatality as long as game exists," said Munro, as animals are moved across the country. He said it was common for farmed deer to flee in the wild.

"To our knowledge, it's not yet in Ontario. The biggest thing is to make sure it does not happen here, "he said.

The Ontario Ministry of Natural Resources and Forestry has planned to sample deer killed in southwestern Ontario this fall, but the OFAH is now asking it to do so. to sample in this region.

[email protected]

twitter.com/TomSpears1

[ad_2]
Source link