Vets want province to prohibit restocking on Sask. deer, elk farms that report chronic wasting disease

The province of Saskatchewan says it's not planning to change legislation for farms that raise animals such as deer or elk, despite a call from veterinarians to prohibit restocking on farms where chronic wasting disease cases have been reported.

The Council of Chief Veterinary Officers, a federal organization, issued a statement earlier this year, calling on the federal government, and provincial governments across Canada, to prohibit restocking in those cases.

The veterinary officers' statement said chronic wasting disease, or CWD, raises concerns about animal health and wildlife population sustainability, since the disease could spread from farmed animals to wildlife. 

It also raises food safety and security concerns, particularly for rural Canadians, Indigenous and Métis people who hunt the animals, the council said.

There have been no reported cases of the disease in humans, according to a government of Canada website. But ongoing, non-peer reviewed studies suggested macaque monkeys could contract CWD from eating the meat of animals infected with the disease, the veterinary officers' letter said, which leads to concerns about possible human health implications. 

The disease affects cervids — animals like deer, moose, elk or caribou —  on farms and in the wild.

Symptoms of the disease in animals, according to a government of Canada website, can include lack of co-ordination, unusual behaviour or paralysis.

The province says the first reported cases in Saskatchewan were in a farmed animal in 1996, and in the wild in 2000. It has since spread through the province through farmed and wild animals, and has also been found in Alberta.

Environmental contamination could spread disease

The letter from the Council of Chief Veterinary Officers warns that animals could contract the disease from exposure to a contaminated environment, and could in turn spread it further.

CWD is a disease involving prions — infectious abnormal proteins that accumulate in tissue, including the brain — and is in the same family of diseases as bovine spongiform encephalopathy (BSE) in cattle and Creutzfeldt-Jakob disease in humans, the province says.

The letter from the chief veterinary officers said infected animals are likely to shed prions through fluids like blood, saliva or urine while they're infected.

Experimental research has shown prions bind to soil and remained infectious, the letter said. 

Lab-based research showed grass plants were capable of binding prions on exposure and taking them on through contaminated soil. 

"Introducing cervids into a contaminated environment will likely result in establishment of infection within a portion of that new population," the letter said.

"Translocation of live cervids incubating the disease represents a significant risk to introducing the disease to a new geographic region." 

Province doesn't plan to change policies

Saskatchewan appointed a new chief veterinary officer in the summer, Dr. Stephanie Smith.

Smith was unable to attend the meeting where the letter was drafted, a statement from her office this week said, and was unable to comment on the specifics of the meeting itself. 

Her office noted the government of Saskatchewan has policies in place to prevent the spread of chronic wasting disease among farmed animals, and to prevent and control the spread of the disease into the wild.

But the province did not commit to changing legislation or policies around farms.

The provincial government allows farms where CWD was found to continue operation, but only "under strict controls," the statement said. 

Any high-risk farm is repopulated under strict licensing and quarantine conditions to prevent or limit the spread of CWD, said the provincial statement.

Testing for the disease is required on all cervid farms in Saskatchewan for animals that are slaughtered for food, or that are older than one year and die on-farm.

"Early detection of CWD limits spread to other farmed cervids on the premises and other sites," the statement said. 

All positive cases of chronic wasting disease on farms are required to be reported to the Canadian Food Inspection Agency, which reports the data every month.

"In October there was one herd in Saskatchewan that was reported to be infected by chronic wasting disease," a CFIA statement said. 

To date, the CFIA said five farms in Saskatchewan have reported cases of CWD. Since 2011, when reporting started, 55 Canadian herds reported cases of CWD.

Test harvested meat: CFIA

The CFIA said it was aware of the study on monkeys and transmission cited by the Council of Chief Veterinary Officers in its letter, and noted a Canadian scientist participated.

The veterinarians' letter noted Health Canada and other health authorities recommend testing animals harvested from areas where CWD is known to exist, and recommends against allowing meat from animals that test positive to be used for human consumption.

The provincial government and CFIA's statements noted that no cases of CWD have been found in humans, but recommended hunters test their harvested meat before eating or distributing it.

Hunters were also "strongly urged" by both agencies not to eat or distribute meat to other people if it is found to be CWD-positive.

As a precautionary measure, the CFIA says it has strict controls in place to prevent CWD in farmed animals from entering the food chain, citing mandatory testing policies in five provinces — including Saskatchewan — and a mandatory reporting policy.