Overview
The Alberta government began conducting voluntary surveillance for Chronic Wasting Disease (CWD) in farmed and wild cervids in the fall of 1996.
On August of 2002, the Mandatory CWD Surveillance Program became effective in Alberta. The program requires cervid owners to submit the heads for CWD testing from all farmed cervids over one year of age that die for any reason.
Objectives
The objectives of the program are to:
- monitor farmed cervids in Alberta for CWD
- support cervid producers enrolled in the CWD Herd Certification Program; administered by NSF
- provide a level of assurance of CWD freedom for individual cervid farms
- provide an indication of risk of CWD in farmed cervids in Alberta for industry as a whole
Producer responsibilities
All cervid farmers in the province and veterinarians dealing with the industry are encouraged to read the program guidelines (scheduled to be updated in July 2026 to incorporate recent program changes, including requirements related to harvest preserve operations) to understand their responsibilities for CWD surveillance:
Producer responsibilities include:
- ensuring that the entire head or appropriate tissue samples are submitted for each animal that is over one year of age that dies for any reason, including:
- commercial and non-commercial slaughter
- disease
- accident
- culling
- euthanasia
- harvested on a licensed harvest preserve
- ensuring that animals that are being euthanized, slaughtered or harvested are killed in a manner that does not render the obex of the brain unsuitable for testing
- complying with the Livestock Industry Diversification Act and the Domestic Cervid Industry Regulation, which enable the licensing of diversified livestock farms
- contacting the district veterinarian at the nearest CFIA office and calling the Office of the Chief Provincial Veterinarian within 24 hours if the owner or person in possession, care or control of the cervid, suspects that it has CWD. Find out how to report CWD.
For more information on diversified livestock farms, including harvest preserves, visit the diversified livestock farms web page.
Submitting samples
Producers are required to submit cervid heads or the appropriate tissue samples to any Alberta Agriculture and Irrigation laboratory (Edmonton, Fairview, Airdrie and Lethbridge) within 30 days from the cervid death being known to the owner or cervid farm operator no matter how long the animal has been dead.
Fill out the submission forms to be submitted with the heads or samples. The herd status portion of the form must be filled out to ensure tests assigned align with Canadian Food Inspection Agency (CFIA) and United States Department of Agriculture (USDA) requirements, if applicable. Download the CWD Surveillance Submission Form for diversified livestock production farms. The harvest preserve submission form will be updated in July or August 2026.
Ensure all samples are appropriately identified. The unique Agriculture and Irrigation approved cervid tag must be left in the ears of all heads that are submitted for CWD testing, unless alternate arrangements have been approved by Agriculture and Irrigation. Appropriate documentation identifying the animal ID must accompany all tissue samples that are submitted.
Make every effort to submit samples in a condition that is suitable for testing by the laboratory,
Submitting more than 10 heads
Producers must give Agriculture and Irrigation 24 hours’ advance notice if they are submitting more than 10 heads at any one time:
Hours: 8:15 am to 4:30 pm (open Monday to Friday, closed statutory holidays)
Phone: 780-422-1923
Toll free: 310-0000 before the phone number (in Alberta)
Submitting more than 20 heads
For larger slaughter numbers, a letter of understanding between the producer/person organizing the slaughter and Agriculture and Irrigation is required and must be signed at least 2 weeks before the slaughter date.
Submissions from harvest preserves
Operators of licensed harvest preserves in Alberta will be eligible to take and submit CWD samples after attending a mandatory CWD sampling training session. All requirements of the Alberta Mandatory CWD Surveillance Program must be well understood and adhered to.
Contact
Connect with the Office of the Chief Provincial Veterinarian:
Hours: 8:15 am to 4:30 pm (open Monday to Friday, closed statutory holidays
Phone: 780-427-3448 (also responded to after hours and weekends)
Toll free: 310-0000 before the phone number (in Alberta)
Fax: 780-415-0810
Address:
O.S. Longman Building
6909 116 Street
Edmonton, Alberta T6H 4P2