http://www.canada.com/vancouversun/news/story.html?id=ce0bdfe7-86d1-45a9-b428-eebcd0c0c984&k=62405

Paula Beauchamp
Canwest News Service

Saturday, February 02, 2008

CALGARY - Wildlife officials are killing hundreds of deer along Alberta's eastern border in a bid to halt the spread of chronic wasting disease, but the cull has raised the ire of area residents who are opposed to the mass killing.

Over the next two months, officers will shoot every deer they can find within a 10-kilometre radius of the four spots where deer suffering from chronic wasting disease were located during the hunting season.

The first of the four 10-day culls, planned between Empress and Lloydminster, started near Oyen, about 320 kilometres east of Calgary, this week.

About 1,850 deer were killed last year and a minimum of 1,000 deer will be killed this round, though possibly many more.

Oyen resident Debbie Ross said she was outraged by the cull, which would destroy hundreds of healthy deer in her area.

"They found a couple of cases and now they want to do a mass massacre," Ross said. "It's a shame to eliminate all those deer unnecessarily. I don't think they know enough about how the disease is passed."

Spokesman Dave Ealey said Alberta Sustainable Resource Development planned the culls after five deer shot by hunters in the fall tested positive for chronic wasting disease.

"We believe this is essential to prevent the disease from spreading further to deer populations to the west," Ealey said.

While the cull has divided residents in the Oyen area, Oyen Mayor Wayne Wilson supports the move.

"I think it's a good thing to stop the sick ones from spreading the disease," he said.

Ealey said Alberta's deer population has grown exponentially during recent warm winters and the department hopes to minimize the threat of spreading the disease from herd to herd by thinning numbers.

The department's goal is to reduce the density of deer to one deer per square kilometre.

Alberta has a low frequency of chronic wasting disease - 34 deer have tested positive since 2005 - compared with Saskatchewan, where more than 150 cases of the disease have been detected.

Experts hope that by thinning herd numbers, the risk of the disease spreading will be reduced if herds come into contact with infected deer from Saskatchewan.

Chronic wasting disease is a transmissible neurological disease that infects deer, elk and moose. Its origin and mode of transmission is unknown.

It causes lesions in the brains of infected animals and is typified by chronic weight loss leading to death.

The Alberta government says on its website that "evidence suggests infected deer and elk probably transmit the disease through contamination of water and feed by saliva and/or feces. CWD seems more likely to occur where elk or deer are crowded or where they congregate at man-made feed and water stations. A heavily contaminated environment can be a source of infection."

Ealey said meat from deer that test negative to the chronic wasting disease will be given to food banks.
© Canwest News Service