Chronic Wasting Disease (CWD) in Alberta led to the killing of all the wild deer by the government hunters in the Chauvin area. This is an effort to curb the spread of chronic wasting disease.
Alberta Sustainable Resource Development spokesman Dave Ealey said that these measures can prevent the spread of the disease at an early stage. Killing a large number of deer among high-risk areas is virtually the only way to reduce the spread of the disease and track its presence in an area.The government is planning to kill almost all the deer in the Chauvin area which is considered a high-risk area because it is present next to the Saskatchewan border.
Statistics show that more than 100 cases of CWD have been reported in wild deer in Saskatchewan. Ealey said that there is no vaccine and the only way out is culling of the deer.
Deer is the main source of infection and the disease affects the nervous system of deer and the animals slowly waste away because they can't maintain their weight. The ongoing surveillance is made very strict and the quota hunters are asked to maintain a record of the number of animals they have killed.
As of now CWD has not infected man and World Health Organization (WHO) has warned about its possible and dreadful effects.
