Tag Archives: Mule Deer

Animals, Health

Chronic Wasting Disease reported in the Kootenay Region

On January 31, 2024, the Canadian Food Inspection Agency confirmed that two cases of Chronic Wasting Disease (CWD) have been found south of Cranbrook, in the Kootenays. ‘The first sample came from a ‘harvested’ adult male mule deer and the second from a white-tailed doe that was struck on the road. 

CWD is a highly infectious and fatal disease, which the U.S. Centres for Disease Control and Prevention states, “affects many different species of hoofed animals including North American elk or wapiti, red deer, mule deer, black-tailed deer, white-tailed deer, sika deer, reindeer, and moose.”

This is the first report of CWD west of the Rocky Mountains in Canada or the United States.  

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Indigenous Nations, Politics

Site C, “As long as the Sun Shines, the Grass Grows & the Rivers Flow”

By Roy L Hales

The First Nations that signed treaty #8, in 1914, were promised the right to continue with their traditional way of life “for as long as the sun shines, the grass grows and the rivers flow.” The antiquity of their presence site is evidenced by prehistoric chert arrowheads, burials and local tradition. It has continued into modern times as a summer gathering place. When BC Hydro dams the Peace River, on site C, they will be taking away lands on which these people have hunted, fished and gathered their traditional medicine plants. Of Course a century ago no one knew that this could become one of the most promising liquid natural gas fields in the world.

The land that is about to disappear is also home to about 20 threatened species. It is a migration route for fish such as the bull trout and arctic grayling, as well as home to the mountain whitefish. The islands are calving grounds for moose, mule deer & elk, habitat for red & blue listed neo-tropical birds.

Continue reading Site C, “As long as the Sun Shines, the Grass Grows & the Rivers Flow” →