Disease fear causes 15,000 wild deer to be quarantined

Moose: Paul Kleiven / NTB scanpix

New findings related to a new chronic emancipation sickness have caused about 15,000 deer in Central Norway to be quarantined for testing prior to slaughter.

The deadly disease, which is known as CWD (chronic waste disease), has been found in two moose and a caribou in a new and completely unknown form in Selbu in Sør-Trøndelag. Now the FSA plans to have all who might be affected shot until it’s been tested, newspaper Nationen reports.

As many as 15,000 deer-like creatures in 51 municipalities from Agder to Troms will be tested this fall. The disease cannot be transmitted to humans.

“To be on the safe side, that FSA will not permit infected meat to be eaten,” says technical director Kristina Landsverk from the FSA.

Director Sylvie Benestad, who is responsible for diseases at the National Veterinary Institute, says that the findings of the two moose in Selbu differ from everything else the institute has seen before.

“We’re not saying that the new variety is more dangerous than the one we already know of, but this new strain is unknown. We know nothing, and therefore our advice is to be safe,” says Benestad.

 

Source: NTB scanpix / Norway Today