Moose of Northern Norway to be tested for brain disease

Moose.Photo: Per Løchen / SCANPIX

To check if the deadly disease CWD has spread to deer in northern Norway,  samples will be taken from elk shot during the fall hunt in Tromsø.

Taking the samples is part of the mapping work made by the Norwegian Institute for Nature Research (NINA), NRK news reported.

Three cases of chronic wasting disease (CWD) have been identified in deer and elk in Norway, one of them in Sogn og Fjordane  and two of them in Sør Trøndelag. The disease, which can be compared with scrapie in sheep or mad cow disease, has not yet been demonstrated to exist in Northern Norway.

– I think the FSA and the Environment Directorate do this because they want to be on the safe side, Jørn Larsen, head of Målselv game commitee, who was told about the survey last week, says.

He has not yet received any practical information on how the work is to be carried out, but will meet with NINA in the near future.

Another measure FSA has introduced as a precaution, is that meat from infected animals is not to be eaten. This is introduced despite the fact that it never has been proven that people have been infected with CWD.

 

Source: NTB scanpix / Norway Today