THUNDER BAY — A map produced by the Ministry of Natural Resources and Forestry shows the Thunder Bay area and parts of northwestern Ontario west of the city are considered among the highest risk areas for the spread of Chronic Wasting Disease in deer.
The map is included in the ministry's new CWD Prevention and Response Plan, released Wednesday, which the MNRF says will allow the province to act quickly if the disease is discovered in Ontario.
CWD is a progressive, fatal brain disorder that mostly affects deer, but can also affect other cervids such as moose, caribou and elk.
It has not been detected in Ontario to date, but has turned up in Quebec and all five U.S. states bordering the province.
Under new legislation, if CWD is detected anywhere in the province the government will be allowed to designate zones where special rules would apply in order to restrict its spread.
In the event CWD is confirmed in a wild deer or other animal, an Incident Response Management Team will first meet with stakeholders, municipalities and Indigenous communities to decide on response actions.
Surveillance of area deer herds will be used to determine the extent of an initial Enhanced Surveillance and Control Zone.
Any control measures that are implemented will be continued until no evidence of CWD is detected for six consecutive years.
Response actions may include:
- utilizing the order-making powers of the Fish and Wildlife Conservation Act to reduce the risk of spread
- wide-scale surveillance of wild populations for early detection of the disease through lethal removal of animals
- intensive population reduction of wild herds near the location of CWD detection
- temporary hunting/trapping season closures and closure of trails and parks within a core control zone where active depopulation actions are taken
- enacting controls to reduce the potential spread of the disease including prohibiting baiting and feeding of wild cervids
- implementing controls on disposal of cervid carcasses and body parts
The strategy also lays out some long-term CWD management provisions.
"If CWD becomes established in the natural environment at a scale where it is no longer reasonable to contain the spread, longer-term responses must be considered, based on the best available science and management practices from other jurisdictions," it says.
In most U.S. states with CWD, controls have failed to prevent the disease from spreading beyond the initial area of detection.
Should this situation occur in Ontario, the MNRF will look at adapting its deer harvest management plan to suppress the size of the herd in a Wildlife Management Unit surrounding a CWD control zone.
The harvest of mature male deer would be prioritized, and harvest allocations would be adjusted to reduce the herd size to less than two deer per square kilometre.
"We applaud the government for enacting these changes," said Angelo Lombardo, the executive-director of the Ontario Federation of Anglers and Hunters.
Lombardo said the OFAH has been lobbying for a plan such as this for years.
