The province is estimating an urban deer population in the hundreds in both Cranbrook and Kimberley as a deer cull gets underway to collect samples to test for Chronic Wasting Disease.
According to recent population surveys, there are 270 urban deer in Cranbrook and 220 urban deer in Kimberley.
The Ministry of Water, Lands and Resource Stewardship is looking to cull 100 deer in each community in order to collect CWD samples to test for for disease prevalence in the urban herds.
The cull is expected to run from Feb. 18-28, but won't extend beyond that window if the threshold of 100 deer isn't reached.
A CWD sample must be taken from the brain stem or the lymph nodes in the throat, however, there's no way to collect a sample and keep the animal alive.
The cull will be done with darting and a tranquilizer gun to sedate the animal, before it is taken away to a secure location to be killed in order to collect a CWD sample. Sharpshooting may be an option in situations where it is safe to do so.
Meanwhile, the province has doubled the number of wildlife permits issued for a specialized hunt of deer in the rural outskirts of Cranbrook, rising from an initial 50 permits to 120, according to a ministry spokesperson.
The province worked with the East Kootenay Wildlife Association to connect with local hunters in order to issue permits. Anyone wishing to hunt on private land must secure permission from the landowner. No hunting activities are allowed within the City of Cranbrook boundaries.
The specialized hunt will end on Feb. 28th, and is a separate action from the urban deer cull activities. More permits are not expected to be issued, according to the province.
Any hunter who harvests a deer through the specialized hunt must submit a CWD sample for testing.
The specialized hunt zone essentially uses Highway 3/93 as a border to the southwest of the city, before moving along the city's municipal boundaries and reconnecting with the highway to the east and then running along the BC Hydro transmission back to the highway to the west.
To date, there have been five confirmed cases of CWD that tested positive from deer near Cranbrook since early 2024.
Most deer came from a cluster in the southwest area of Cranbrook, while a male mule deer in the South Country region also tested positive.
A number of wildlife advocacy organizations are coordinating to hold a CWD Awareness and information session scheduled for March 13 at the Heritage Inn, starting at 7 p.m.
The session will include an overview of the provincial government’s CWD management plan from Holger Bohm, a wildlife biologist and ungulate specialist for the Ministry of Water, Lands and Resource Stewardship.
Recent research and other CWD mitigation strategies will be presented by Jessica Russel, an emergency management and ecology consultant who has proven success working on national-scale programs.
Attendees will be able to ask questions of the experts following the presentation.
CWD affects cervids, such as deer, moose, elk and caribou, and is a condition of the central nervous system caused by infectious agents called prions, which kill cells in the brain as they accumulate and lead to neurological disease.
Prions, a type of protein, also accumulate in other tissues and may be shed by the infected animal into water or on plants and bedding through saliva, urine and feces.
It is 100 per cent fatal to wildlife with no known treatment.
However, it is not known to affect humans or livestock, although public health guidance recommends that animals with CWD should not be consumed.
