Innovation Anthology #227:
Deer infected with chronic wasting disease were first found in Saskatchewan in the year 2000.
It has since crossed the border into Alberta. And scientists fear the disease could one day infect deer all the way to the Arctic.
It is spread by contact between deer and contact with infected soil.
Nicole Skeleton is a masters student at the Western College of Veterinary Medicine in Saskatoon. Her poster at the recent Prion Conference in Edmonton outlined her research into the movements of young deer from infected areas.
NICOLE SKELETON: And my particular poster here is about long distance movements by young deer. It’s termed dispersal. When deer reach an age about sexual maturity at about one year old, they often make a rapid long distance movement. And what I found is that they can move up to 200 kilometers and this might help explain the geographic spread of disease in Saskatchewan of chronic wasting disease.
Nicole Skeleton tracked the movements of young deer by fitting them with radio collars. She found the greatest dispersal began in the month of June. She also observed deer moving the further distance seemed to come from more fragmented habitats.
Thanks today to the Canadian Institutes for Health Research.
FOR INNOVATION ANTHOLOGY,
I’M CHERYL CROUCHER
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Canadian Institutes of Health Research
Program Date: 2009-05-21