The provincial government says a second deer infected with chronic wasting disease has been detected in Manitoba.
The province says the case was discovered as part of routine surveillance just north of the U.S. border.
Starting Monday, the province will begin a cull to help reduce the spread of the disease in the area, but the province’s chief veterinary officer says it needs to be done quickly.
“The good news is we got to this disease early,” said Dr. Scott Zaari on Friday.
“We found out from our early warning system that CWD does exist. We have a surveillance program for testing this disease for a number of years now, so we have to act.
“We don’t want to get to a point where this disease is endemic in a wildlife population.”
Maria Arlt of the province’s Wildlife, Fisheries and Resource Enforcement said it’s not yet known exactly how many deer will be put down over the 2-4 day period, but it will be done as safely and humanely as possible.
“It’s a removal of deer using a humane method,” she said.
“This program uses an experienced contractor that’s done this work in other jurisdictions, with a highly-skilled marksman.
“This is the safest and most effective way to approach a depopulation at this level.”
As much meat as possible will be salvaged from animals found to be free of the disease.
With files from The Canadian Press
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