Ontario is surrounded by chronic wasting disease, but the fatal illness has yet to be detected among the province's wildlife

Ontario is surrounded by chronic wasting disease, but the illness has yet to be detected among the province's wildlife. That's according the 2023 results from Ontario's surveillance program. Now, experts say prevention is key to keeping deer and other wildlife safe.

Comment from Gemini:

The attached observations document the spread and impact of Chronic Wasting Disease (CWD) across North America, providing important context for Ontario's proactive efforts to prevent the disease's establishment within its borders. Several observations highlight the devastating impact CWD can have on cervid populations. For example, in the South Saskatchewan River valley, prevalence rates are estimated as high as 70% in male deer ([no URL provided]), and along the Alberta-Saskatchewan border infection rates approach 50% ([no URL provided]). These high numbers underscore the potential for rapid population decline if CWD takes hold. The observations also illustrate the expanding range of CWD. The discovery of CWD in British Columbia in early 2024 (https://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/british-columbia/chronic-wasting-disease-bc-1.6729040) demonstrates the westward movement of the disease. Cases have also been documented in Manitoba (https://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/manitoba/chronic-wasting-disease-manitoba-1.6736690), Wisconsin (https://www.wxpr.org/2020-01-24/chronic-wasting-disease-found-in-marquette-county-deer), Quebec (https://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/montreal/quebec-farm-under-quarantine-after-animal-with-chronic-wasting-disease-discovered-in-laurentians-1.4826676), and even Finland (https://yle.fi/a/3-9470877), highlighting the international scope of the problem. Finally, several observations emphasize the critical role of hunters in CWD surveillance programs (e.g. Manitoba observation). This reinforces the importance of Ontario's hunter-based surveillance program described in the main observation. In addition to the provided observations, it's worth noting that cervid farms have been implicated in the spread of CWD in some regions. For instance, a 2018 article in the journal "Prion" discusses the role of farmed cervids in CWD epidemiology (https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC6639732/). This further underscores the OFAH's concerns about the potential risks associated with cervid farms in Ontario, as mentioned in the main observation.