Notice to Hunters

Handling and Preparing Wild Meat

Hunters can ensure that any wild game they harvest is safe to eat by following a few simple precautions:

• Avoid contact with any wild animal that appears to be sick.
• During field dressing:
  • Wear disposable rubber or latex gloves,
  • Thoroughly wash hands and tools afterwards with soap and warm water,
  • Alcohol-based hand cleaner can be used if hands are not visibly dirty.
  • Dispose of bird remains after field dressing in a way that will prevent scavengers from contacting them.
• Avoid handling and consuming brain, eye, lymphatic or spinal cord tissue,
• When preparing and cooking wild game use common food handling techniques;
  • Cool meat immediately to a temperature of 4°C or lower,
  • Thaw and marinate meats in the refrigerator,
  • Never refreeze thawed meat,
  • Use a meat thermometer to ensure wild game is properly cooked - as a general rule cook wild game until the juices run clear.

Wildlife Health and Disease

The vast majority of Manitoba's wildlife is very healthy. Natural selection, through predation, ensures that only the healthiest of wild animals survive. Sick, diseased, or injured wild animals are quickly killed and eaten by a wide variety of predators such as wolves preying on elk. This natural process ensures the overall health of Manitoba's wildlife.

Diseases can significantly affect wildlife populations in situations where natural habitat and environmental conditions have been altered. An example is the loss of natural habitat for elk through land clearing and agricultural activities. The situation becomes worse when elk, searching for browse, encounter rich food sources such as hay bales left in fields over the winter. Elk may crowd together to feed on this forage thereby increasing the chance of disease transmission.

Monitoring Disease Occurrences in Wildlife

Manitoba Conservation will continue to monitor the occurrence of diseases in wildlife so that steps can be taken to reduce their impact. Hunters are encouraged to report, to the nearest Manitoba Conservation office, any die-offs of animals encountered, including birds.

Manitoba Conservation Appreciates Hunter Co-operation

Manitoba hunters have made a significant contribution to our knowledge of wildlife disease by submitting biological samples. Your continued support has helped to ensure the health of Manitoba's wildlife and ecosystems.

Bovine Tuberculosis in Elk and Deer

The bovine TB surveillance program in elk and deer will continue in 2009. In order to detect changes in prevalence rate for this disease in these species, the number of samples needed for testing has increased. Failure to meet sample targets through hunter submissions may result in actions to collect additional samples. Therefore, it is important that all hunters who harvest a deer or an elk in these GHAs submit samples as required by regulation. Hunters are required to submit samples within 48 hours:

• The complete head, upper neck, lungs and trachea (windpipe)
  of elk and deer shot during the hunting seasons in the Riding
  Mountain area (GHAs 23 and 23A) and the Duck Mountain
  area (GHAs 18B and 18C).
• Samples must be delivered to Manitoba Conservation offices,
  biological sample stations and Warden Stations.
• Hunters should immediately report any small, pea-sized lumps
  in the rib cage or lungs of elk and deer.

Hunters are requested to avoid taking elk and deer that have been fitted with radio-collars. These marked animals are important to the success of the ecological studies of elk and deer.

Chronic Wasting Disease

Chronic Wasting Disease (CWD) has not been detected in Manitoba. It has been found in Saskatchewan and Alberta, and in many of the mid-western United States. The disease seems to be spreading in many jurisdictions, including Saskatchewan and Alberta, and remains a significant problem in wild deer in those provinces. An ongoing risk assessment of the disease in adjacent jurisdictions is continuing.

Manitoba Conservation, in co-operation with Parks Canada and Manitoba Agriculture, Food and Rural Initiatives, is again actively collecting and testing deer and elk samples for the presence of this disease. Hunters are required to submit samples.

The complete head and upper neck of elk and deer shot during the hunting seasons in GHAs 5, 6, 6A, 11, 12, 13, 13A, 18, 18A, and 22 west of PTH 83.

Samples must be delivered to a Manitoba Conservation office or a biological sample station.

Elk and deer submitted for testing under the Bovine TB surveillance program will also be tested for CWD.

If you see a deer or elk with CWD symptoms, including extreme weight loss, repetitive behavior, drooping head and ears, and drooling, you should note the precise location and contact the nearest Manitoba Conservation district office.

What else is being done by Manitoba Conservation

• The importation of native and exotic cervids is prohibited.
• The possession of scents and other substances that contain urine, faeces, saliva or scent glands of cervids, is prohibited.
• It is illegal to bring into Manitoba a cervid that has been killed in another province or state without first removing the head, hide, hooves, mammary glands, entrails, internal organs, and spinal column. These parts must remain in the place of origin. Antlers and connecting bone plate that have been detached from the remainder of the skull and has had all hide and other tissue removed, may be brought in to the province, provided the bone plate and antler bases are treated with a solution of not less than two percent (2%) chlorine. Raw capes and hides that have been detached from the animals must be placed in a sealed waterproof container to ensure that no fluids, tissue or hair can escape. Once this process has been done, they may be brought in to the province provided that they are delivered, within five (5) days of entry, to a taxidermist or a licensed facility for chemical processing into a tanned product.
• These restrictions apply to everyone, including First Nations
  people.

Trichinosis

"Trichinosis" is a serious human disease caused by a parasite found in some wildlife species in Manitoba, including black bears. Wild animals rarely show signs of infection with the parasite causing the disease. In light of recent cases of this disease in humans in other jurisdictions who consumed infected bear meat, hunters are advised to ensure that all bear meat being prepared for consumption is well cooked.

Avian Influenza Information for Hunters

Avian influenza (bird flu), is a general term for a number of "flu-like" diseases caused by viruses that primarily infect domestic poultry and certain wild birds including various species of waterfowl. Avian influenza viruses of many types are commonly found in healthy migratory birds and cause no ill effects to wild bird populations, domestic poultry operations or human health. However, some forms of Avian influenza (bird flu), such as the Asian H5N1 type are more virulent and are of more concern from . a human health standpoint.

Governments in Canada and the United States have been monitoring domestic and wild birds to determine if the Asian H5N1 strain of bird flu is present in North America. To date, this Asian strain of bird flu has not been found in either domestic or wild birds in North America but, monitoring will continue as early detection is important to stop the spread of influenza illnesses.

The risk to humans from avian bird flu is extremely low and hunters should follow some simple, common sense precautions when handling wild birds. Please see Handling and Preparing Wild Meat below.

Generally people should not handle wild animals that are obviously sick or found dead. If sick or dead waterfowl (ducks, geese, swans), or shorebirds (plovers, sandpipers) are found, contact the Canadian Wildlife Service at (204)984-6203 or contact Manitoba Conservation at 1-800-214-6497 or 945-6784 in Winnipeg.

West Nile Virus and Game Bird Hunters in Manitoba

West Nile virus (WNV) was detected in birds, horses and mosquitoes in 2002. WNV is primarily spread by certain species of mosquitoes. Wooded and marshy areas are favourite locations for adult mosquitoes. Hunters can reduce mosquito bites by wearing long-sleeves, long pants, and applying mosquito repellent containing DEET.

The risk of getting WNV from mosquito exposure is low, and the risk from handling or consuming wild game is even lower. Although, the prevalence of WNV infection in wild game is not known.

For further information on West Nile Virus and reducing the risk, please contact Health Links at 788-8200 in Winnipeg or 1-888-315-9257 outside of Winnipeg. Information is also available on the Manitoba Health and Canadian Cooperative Wildlife Health Centre web sites.