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Last updateThu, 03 Oct 2024 12pm

Chronic wasting disease identified in Hand Hills mule deer

 

deer-bw-graphic

A mule deer caught in the Handhills has tested positive for chronic wasting disease.

 

    The province has identified a mule deer caught in the Hand hills with Chronic Wasting Disease (CWD), the first deer in the area to be confirmed with the disease.
    As former president of the Alberta Fish & Game Association, Drumheller’s Rod Dyck is all too familiar with the spread of CWD in Alberta wildlife, and said the Hand Hills deer is the first case to be found this far west.
    He explains CWD is a prion, which is a small infectious particle composed of abnormally folded protein that attacks the brain of the animals and, causing progressive neurodegenerative conditions in the animals.     
    Mule deer bucks are most likely to test positive for CWD, and the disease is least likely to be found in female white tail deer, according to Alberta Environment and Sustainable Resource Development (ESRD). The animals can have the disease for four years and not show symptoms, but as soon as they show symptoms of CWD, they die within a few months.
    Dyck said origins of the disease were traced to a U.S. government research facility in Colorado in 1967, and were sheep scrapies, a fatal, degenerative disease that affects the nervous systmes of sheep and goats, transferred to deer and mutated. From there it spread up into Canada, through game farms in Saskatchewan. “Our association has been opposed to game farms for this reason,” said Dyck.
    He adds the University of Saskatchewan and the Univeristy of Michigan are both working on vaccines for CWD.
    The first reported case of CWD in Alberta was 2005, and this past hunting season, 37 positives out of 1800 heads tested brings the total CWD cases in Alberta to 211.
    All it takes is for a wild deer to touch noses with an infected deer in the game farm, Dyck explains, and it spreads from there. It’s taken hold in south-Eastern Alberta, and he said CWD is now considered endemic in Saskatchewan because the disease is found in 50 per cent of the wild deer population.
    The disease is tracked through hunters submitting frozen deer heads to the province for testing.Dyck believes the province had a window in which to get a handle on the disease, but said that time has now passed. “We don’t know if anything else can carry the disease, such as a coyote.” No elk in the wild have tested positive for CWD at this point, said Dyck, but the first moose, killed on the highway near the South Saskatchewan River valley in 2012, is the first such case identified in Canada.
    The CWD hasn’t been shown to spread to people, but ESRD recommends not using the meat of an animal that’s tested positive,and will destroy it for hunters that bring it in to them.
    Dyck notes it’s already been a tough couple years for the area’s deer population, estimating at least a third of Drumheller area mule deer and white tail deer herds have perished because of the harsh winters that made it  unable for the deer to easily feed.


Herman Kloot and Company welcomes student at law

 

 

 

Emma-Davis-and-sharon-clark-jan-2015

 

Emma Davis, right, and her principal, Sharon Clark. Emma  began articling at Herman Kloot and Company in December.
inSide photo by Patrick Kolafa
    
    There is a new face at Herman Kloot and Company as Emma Davis has begun her articling at the firm.
    It has been a long and winding road bringing Emma to the valley. She began with the firm as a student at law on December 29.
    “We are very happy to have her,” said Sharon Clark, who is her principal.
    Davis finished her high school in Okotoks, and her post secondary studies took her to St. Francis of Xavier in Nova Scotia for her undergraduate work. She then went to law school at Bond University in Australia where she graduated in October 2013. Despite her globetrotting route to the valley, it is a good fit.
    “The city is good, but not the atmosphere I’m used to,” she said.
    Davis explains that articling is similar to completing a practicum. Over the next year, she will be immersed in the day to day of the firm and have to work in five different areas of law. She will also be completing her Canadian Centre For Professional Legal Education (CPLED) program.
    Herman Kloot and Company is a general practice firm and this fits Davis’ aspirations.
    “You have the opportunity to help more people and small towns are in need of general practitioners,” she said, adding that she is looking forward to learning family law, as her principal specializes in this field.
    Clark says the practical experience Davis will be gaining will go a long way towards learning to think as a lawyer, and encourages her to observe court as much as she can. She says the key attributes to being a strong lawyer is learning how to understand the issues and know where to go to find the answers.
    Clark says that attraction and retention of lawyers is an issue faced by many communities and firms. This, like many other industries, is facing an aging workforce, and it is encouraging to find a new lawyer interested in this type of law.

Heavy Snowfall expected for Drumheller Area

snow-graphick

 

Environment Canada has issued a snowfall warning for the Drumheller area. The alert also covers Three Hills, Hanna, Coronation, and Oyen, and out to Acme. Expect blowing and drifting snow if winds reach the expected 20 km, with 10 to 20 cm of snow expected to fall over Friday and Saturday. Areas to expect heavy snow are:

  • Kneehill Co. near Acme and Linden
  • Kneehill Co. near Carbon
  • Kneehill Co. near Three Hills
  • Kneehill Co. near Torrington and Wimborne
  • Kneehill Co. near Trochu and Huxley
  • Rocky View Co. near Irricana Beiseker and Kathyrn
  • S.A. 2 near Finnegan and Little Fish Lake Prov. Park
  • Starland Co. near Michichi and Delia
  • Starland Co. near Morrin and Munson
  • Starland Co. near Rumsey and Rowley
  • Town of Drumheller
  • Wheatland Co. near Hwys 569 and 848
  • Wheatland Co. near Rockyford and Rosebud

Environment Canada notes:

Heavy snow has moved into central Alberta and will continue tonight. The heaviest snowfall is expected to fall along a line from Grande Cache to Red Deer with 10 to 20 cm of snow possible by Saturday morning. Conditions will gradually improve from the northwest on Saturday as the system moves to the southeast.

Be prepared to adjust your driving with changing road conditions. Visibility may be suddenly reduced at times in heavy snow.

Environment Canada meteorologists will update alerts as required. Please continue to monitor your local media or Weatheradio for further updates. If you would like to report severe weather, you can call 1-800-239-0484 or send an email to storm@ec.gc.ca or tweet reports to #ABStorm.


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