A possible case of chronic wasting disease has been detected in a deer that was killed by a hunter in the Okanagan, the province said Monday.
The B.C. Ministry of Water, Land and Resource Stewardship said initial testing by a provincial lab on a sample taken from the male white-tailed deer, that was killed east of Enderby, indicated it could have contracted the infectious and deadly disease.
Conclusive testing must be done by the Canadian Food Inspection Agency, with results expected in early December.
There have been six confirmed cases of the disease in B.C. since 2024, all in the Kootenay region. The disease does not spread to humans, but people should not eat meat from an infected animal.
“This is the first potential detection in the Okanagan and the first identified outside B.C.’s existing CWD (chronic wasting disease) management zone in the Kootenay region,” the ministry said.
B.C. hunters are
for testing from harvested deer, elk and moose as part of the province’s chronic wasting disease mitigation program.
Recent actions to help manage the disease include the removal and testing of urban deer in Cranbrook and Kimberley, mandatory testing for harvested deer, moose and elk in the Kootenay region, carcass transport restrictions, and continuing monitoring with First Nations and local governments, the ministry said.
The provincial wildlife veterinarian has assembled an incident management team made up of provincial and First Nation partners to prepare for potential next steps before the CFIA’s test result.
