Whitetail deer. Photo courtesy of swf.sk.ca
Officials with the Ministry of the Environment are hoping more hunters will take part in the annual Chronic Wasting Disease Testing program.
The disease is always fatal and has been found in mule deer, whitetail deer, elk and moose.
CWD can also spread to caribou, but so far, no cases have been found in Saskatchewan.
Testing has been going on for several years, but more samples are needed for researchers to get accurate numbers on the rate of infection.
Spokesperson Katherine Mehl says a visual inspection of the animal is not enough to establish if it has CWD.
“And the animals look healthy during the first part of that, so hunters will not always know by just looking at an animal once they have shot it,” she said.
Mehl says past testing has revealed two main areas of concern.
“We will have two zones that we are targeting hoping to increase sample sizes within Wildlife Management Zone 50, which is up around Nipawin and Zone 13 which is further south by Swift Current,” she said.
Hunters who take part in the program this season are asked to bring the deer heads to the nearest Conservation Field Office.
The heads should be wrapped in a plastic bag and be kept intact as the entire brain needs to be examined.
The heads are then taken to the University of Saskatchewan for testing.