Released on August 29, 2005
Saskatchewan's fall 2005 Chronic Wasting Disease (CWD) Control Program is in place and it has a few changes from last year.Hunters will be asked to continue to intensively harvest animals from the Herd Reduction Areas. There are five Herd Reduction Areas in the province, near Saskatchewan Landing, in the Manito Sandhills, in the Bronson Forest near St. Walburg and in two areas added this year, west of Nipawin near Love and east of Kindersley near D'Arcy.
"We developed this year's program after several meetings with hunters, landowners, lessees and other stakeholders," Environment Minister David Forbes said. "The program shows that cooperation and consultation can be an effective tool in meeting the challenge of controlling the spread of CWD. I would like to thank everyone who took the time to speak to us about their ideas."
Those planning to hunt in the Herd Reduction Areas will be issued two free permits that allow them to hunt does or young deer born in the spring of 2005. Once they fill those permits and turn in the heads for testing, they may obtain one free, either-sex permit that allows them to hunt both does and bucks. Additional permits may be obtained using the same process; however, hunters are limited to two either-sex permits for the season.
"Current science says the best way to stop the spread of CWD is to reduce the number of animals in the areas where the disease has been found and to increase surveillance in the areas adjacent to the Herd Reduction Areas," Forbes said. "We encourage hunters to submit samples from adult deer harvested from these areas and we will cover the cost of testing. We will also cover the cost of testing samples turned in from elsewhere in the province."
In order for a head to be tested, hunters must provide detailed information about where the animal was taken.
Saskatchewan Environment started testing deer heads for CWD in 1997. Since then, there have been 22,600 samples tested with 68 positive results.
More information about CWD and the fall 2005 Control Program can be found on the Saskatchewan Environment website at www.se.gov.sk.ca/fishwild.
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For More Information, Contact:
| Art Jones Environment Regina Phone: (306)787-5796 Cell: (306) 536-8452 |