As Chronic Wasting Disease (CWD) spreads through Alberta, one conservationist organization has announced the time is nigh for the province’s game farms.
CWD is a prion disease similar to bovine spongiform encephalopathy (BSE, or mad cow disease), except that it affects cervids rather than cattle. Like BSE and all other prion diseases, CWD has a 100 per cent fatality rate.
While the disease is being researched extensively, its potential impact is uncertain. What is certain, according to a map published in May by the United States Geological Survey (USGS), is that CWD is present in Alberta’s game farms.
In response to this USGS map, the Alberta Wilderness Association (AWA) penned an open letter to the provincial government requesting game farms be shuttered immediately, citing the fact that they help facilitate the spread of diseases like CWD into native wildlife populations.
Carolyn Campbell, a conservation specialist for the AWA, says the organization has been besieging the province to outlaw game farms since the practice was introduced in the 1980’s.
“CWD [is] in captive facilities in Alberta, as well as in Saskatchewan [and] that really tells us a lot that this is a continued problem” says Campbell, “the chain of new infections and of supporting new infections, needs to be broken by eliminating game farms.”
According to Campbell, wild animals are curious when it comes to game farms and will often come for a closer look.
“Body fluids that are on the ground can be eaten or even spread in the soil,” said Campbell, “and so the wildlife is vulnerable to that transmission.”
While a major worry is susceptible wildlife, there is also concern of human infection through the consumption of infected meat.
Dr. Sabine Gilch, of the University of Calgary’s Prion Disease Research department, has been conducting experiments on CWD using tissue matter attained from infected macaque monkeys.
By injecting this material cerebrally into rats, Dr. Gilch and company discovered that there was a chance of infectivity in the animals that could trigger a clinical prion disease. Based on the results of this study, which Dr. Gilch described as “a little bit controversial”, she believes human transmission possible.
Dr. Gilch says CWD can be a problem on game farms due to the difficulty of its identification as well at its lasting properties- it has a long incubation period and can survive in soil for many years. However, she does not believe outlawing game farms to be the solution.
“I don’t think it would help now if we close all deer farms”, says Dr. Gilch, “CWD is here, it’s in the wild animals, and at the moment there is no means to stop the spread.”
Dr. Keith Lehman, Alberta’s Chief Veterinarian, felt similarly.
“I don’t see that closing game farms is going to do anything to help stop or slow the spread of disease within the province,” said Dr. Lehman. He did add that, at this time, all policy options were being kept open- including the potential to close game farms.
Both Dr. Gilch and Dr. Lehman described the CWD situation as complex, making clear that more research is necessary- and research needs funding.
The Alberta Prion Research Institute (APRI) announced in early June that it is making up to $1 million in funding available over the next two years to those researching CWD. Ron Clarkson, Director of APRI, spoke of the potential hardships that are associated with CWD.
“Once it’s in a farm, and once it’s in the soil, [game farmers] pretty much have no option other than to shut the farm down,” said Clarkson, “It’ll have a significant economic impact to hunting, as well as to Aboriginal communities that rely on animals for food. [CWD] is going to have a significant impact on their lifestyle.”
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