Manitoba looking at next steps to curtail 'zombie deer' disease after case discovered near Winkler

A provincial biologist says he's optimistic that the so-called "zombie deer" disease can be contained in Manitoba, after only four positive cases of chronic wasting disease were found among the more than 4,000 deer samples analyzed during the 2023 hunting season.

But a recent case raises questions about just how prevalent the disease is in Manitoba.

Chronic wasting disease has been detected a total of 26 times in Manitoba since the first case here was discovered in 2021. The total includes 22 mule deer and four white-tailed deer, most of which were found in two distinct areas near the Saskatchewan border, the province says.

The disease is more common among mule deer than white-tails, and more common in males than females. But Manitoba's first white-tailed doe with the disease was recently confirmed near Winkler — a region of the province which had no known history of the disease, the province said in late January.

"It's sort of an anomaly for us," Richard Davis, manager of Manitoba's Wildlife Health Program, told Radio-Canada.

It would be "a long distance for white-tailed deer to move" from the western area where most other cases were found to Winkler, in south-central Manitoba, said Davis.

"It's not unheard of, but it's very odd.… For her to be infected sort of implies that there might be others out there that are infected in that area."

Davis says the province is on the right track to slow the spread of the disease.

However, "Whether or not it's become endemic, I'm not positive on that," he said, adding that the province will continue to "spot control" new cases.

Chronic wasting disease can affect the brain and nervous system of members of the cervid, or deer, family, including white-tailed deer, mule deer, moose and elk. The disease is always fatal to those animals.

Late-stage symptoms leave the animals stumbling, unable to hold their heads up and salivating excessively, giving them an almost zombie-like appearance — which has led to chronic wasting disease sometimes being referred to as "zombie deer" disease.

Daniel Dupont, a biology instructor at St. Boniface University, says CWD is a strange disease.

"It's not a bacteria, it's not a virus," he said, but essentially a "malforming protein" that affects the nervous system.

"And essentially over time, an infected individual will become very weak, very skinny, and eventually will die."