EDMONTON – Alberta officials say the discovery of one moose with chronic wasting disease doesn’t mean the infection could spread through the province’s entire population of the animals.
Moose can catch the disease, which is similar to mad cow disease, but they can’t pass it on.
“There’s no evidence that the disease can or will establish a sustaining nucleus of disease in moose,” said Alberta Environment spokeswoman Nikki Booth. “They can get it, they just can’t transmit it.”
On Tuesday, wildlife officials announced that an adult bull moose that had been killed in a collision with a vehicle last November had been autopsied and diagnosed with chronic wasting disease. The Alberta government says it’s the first discovery of CWD in a Canadian moose.
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The disease has been present in low levels in Alberta deer for a decade. The sick moose was found near Medicine Hat in southern Alberta, in one of the areas where sick deer have been found.
Affected deer become emaciated and exhibit abnormal behaviours – such as excessive drooling, grinding of teeth and difficulty with orientation – before dying.
Moose, deer and elk are in the same biological family and scientists suspected Alberta moose could be vulnerable to diseases carried by their cervid cousins. There are previous examples of deer infecting moose with chronic wasting disease in Colorado and Wyoming, said Booth.
“CWD only occurs in moose when they overlap with infected deer. Our scientists knew that this could potentially happen and now they’ve found one.”
More infected moose are not expected, Booth said. But Alberta Environment continues to monitor the area for infected deer and will watch for more sick moose as well.
Government scientists are willing to test the heads of any moose that might be sick, said Booth.
The meat remains safe to eat. Scientists say the infectious parts of the carcass are restricted to the brains and material from the spinal column.
There have been no verified cases of people getting ill from infected deer, elk or moose.
Alberta has been trying to stem the flow of deer with chronic wasting disease coming in from Saskatchewan since 2005.
Since last September, 23 cases of the disease have been diagnosed in deer out of nearly 3,000 specimens sent to the province for testing.
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