Ontario Seeking Hunters’ Help to Support Chronic Wasting Disease Surveillance

As hunting season begins, the Ontario government is calling on hunters to submit samples from harvested white-tailed deer to the Chronic Wasting Disease (CWD) surveillance program. This surveillance program is essential for early detection and is a critical first step in ensuring an effective rapid response.

This year, the ministry will be conducting its annual targeted surveillance in two regions throughout the hunting season:

• Southern Ontario (Niagara to Guelph) in Wildlife Management Units (WMUs): 79C, 79D, 87C, 87D, 87E, 88, 89A, 89B and 90A.
• Eastern Ontario (Kingston, Perth, Brockville) in WMUs: 63B, 64A, 66A, 67 and 69B.

Hunters who harvest a deer aged one year or older in a 2026 surveillance area are asked to submit a sample for testing in one of three ways:

1. Freezer Depots: Deposit the head of the harvested deer at one of the ministry's freezer depots, which are open from early-October to late-December.
    
2. Field Sampling: During portions of the fall hunt, ministry wildlife technicians will be travelling throughout these surveillance areas requesting hunters’ permission to remove a small amount of tissue from the deer for analysis.
   
   Sampling does not prevent hunters from consuming the meat or, in most cases, having the head mounted.
    
3. Participating Businesses: Take the head of the harvested deer to a participating taxidermist or butcher in the surveillance areas.

The first 500 hunters who submit a sample in each surveillance area will receive a collectable crest and a take-home sample ID card that can be used to look up their results on Ontario.ca/CWD after 6-8 weeks.

CWD impacts the deer family, including white-tailed deer, elk, moose and caribou. CWD has not been detected in Ontario wildlife but is present in all bordering Canadian provinces and U.S. states.

It is important to note, that chronic wasting disease does not pose a risk to human health and there have been no reported cases of CWD infection in humans.

If you see a deer, elk, moose or caribou showing signs of CWD, such as progressive weight loss, tremors, lack of coordination or abnormal behaviour, please report it to one of the following:

• The ministry’s CWD surveillance program
  • Use the new online reporting tool
  • Email: CWD@ontario.ca
• Wildlife Health Information Line at 1-888-574-6656
• The Canadian Wildlife Health Cooperative

To learn more about how you can help prevent CWD in Ontario, participate in monitoring, and learn about response planning, please visit ontario.ca/CWD.

• Deer under one year of age are not tested since CWD is less likely to be detected in young animals.
• Since CWD surveillance started in 2002 the ministry has tested over 16,500 hunter-harvested white-tailed deer in Ontario. CWD has not been detected in any of the samples tested.
• Ontario released its updated CWD Prevention and Response Plan in December 2019 to ensure the province continues to minimize the risk of the disease entering or spreading within the province.