Ontario’s Government for the People is enhancing surveillance measures to protect wildlife from the risk of chronic wasting disease. This comes following a confirmed case of the disease in Quebec.
“We are taking immediate action to protect the health of deer in Ontario. Planned surveillance is already underway in southwestern Ontario and we are adding to current efforts by deploying additional surveillance teams near the Quebec border,” said Minister of Natural Resources and Forestry, Jeff Yurek.
“Chronic wasting disease has never been detected in wild deer in Ontario and we want to keep it that way. We are mobilizing additional teams to test deer for the disease and adding new public drop off locations east of Ottawa to the Quebec border. I urge hunters to take advantage of this convenient way to participate in protecting Ontario’s wildlife,” Yurek encouraged.
Chronic wasting disease is a progressive, fatal disease of the nervous system of deer, elk, moose and caribou. To date, there have been no confirmed cases of the disease in any wild animal in Ontario.
Visit Ontario.ca/cwd for more information on Ontario’s chronic wasting disease surveillance program.
SOURCE: Province of Ontario
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