Saskatchewan's Ministry of Environment is looking for the help of hunters from around the province to make sure wild animal populations are healthy and disease-free.
Bovine Tuberculosis (Bovine TB) was found in a cattle herd back in 2023 and now the province is hoping hunters can keep an eye out for any cases in wildlife.
Dr. Iga Stasiak, a wildlife health specialist with the province, talks about the disease and where hunters should look.
"In early 2023, a disease called bovine tuberculosis was detected in a cattle herd in eastern Saskatchewan. As a result of that detection, the ministry has been partnering with the Canadian Food Inspection Agency to monitor the wildlife in the area to ensure that the wildlife populations are disease-free."
"This is a reportable disease, so tuberculosis is reportable to the Canadian Food Inspection Agency and it's a disease of concern. It primarily impacts cattle, but can also impact susceptible species of wildlife including deer, elk, moose, as well as wild boar and other species."
Stasiak says at this point they assume that most of the wild population is free of Bovine TB but they're hoping people can check.
"At this point, we don't believe the disease is present in our wildlife population, so we are just wanting to confirm that, but we do want hunters to be on the lookout for any suspicious lesions. That's in any Cervid species harvested so deer, elk, or moose, and some of the lesions that hunters might see include nodules in the chest cavity."
"So in the lungs and the rib cage, they might be sort of pus-like granular, gritty or soft yellow nodules that might be found in that area in the chest cavity, throughout the body, or also in the lymph nodes when they cut into the tissues when they're field dressing."
Any hunter who finds those symptoms or any other suspicious marks can report that online on the Ministry of Environment's website or use the Wildlife Health Tracker app.
In case a hunter is asked to or feels they need to send a sample, Stasiak lays out the process for doing so.
"If a hunter suspects that there is a lesion, we'd like them to take a photograph and they can contact the Ministry of Environment at our inquiry line, which is 1-800-567-4224 or they can contact the Canadian Wildlife Health Cooperative. Their number is 306-966-5815 and then they can be given instructions on how to submit the sample so that the sample should be frozen until it can be submitted to the lab for testing."
Stasiak reminds hunters that in certain areas testing is mandatory ahead of the hunting season.
"It is mandatory testing this year for hunters hunting draw elk in zone 37 and elk and white-tailed deer during the regular season in zone 48. Hunters have a month to submit their samples and there will be drop-off locations across the province. We'll be utilizing our regular CWD drop-off sites and all that information is available online. We do have a special website that's specific to this bovine tuberculosis monitoring, saskatchewan.ca/bovineTB, and more information can be found there."