Skip to content Skip to navigation
Part of Chronic Wasting Disease in wildlife

Chronic Wasting Disease – Updates

Submitted deer heads are tested through the Chronic Wasting Disease surveillance program.

Skip to On this page Skip to Explore pages in

Explore pages in:

Chronic Wasting Disease in wildlife

CWD updates

CWD surveillance update: October 16, 2026

Fall hunting seasons are underway again and Alberta’s year-round chronic wasting disease (CWD) surveillance program also kicks into high gear. Hunter support is the foundation of our CWD surveillance. Seasonal staff are hired in mid-October and once trained, their first task is to set out the freezers where hunters can drop off heads of mule deer and whitetails. All freezers will be in place prior to November 1. In mid-December, the last task of these staff is to remove, clean and store the freezers.

An updated map of the 2026 freezer locations is provided at Chronic Wasting Disease – Information for Hunters. Information about WMUs designated for mandatory head submission for 2026 also is provided in the 2026 Alberta Guide to Hunting Regulations.

Although CWD occurs in deer throughout central and eastern Alberta, the surveillance program focuses along parts of the border with Saskatchewan and along the northern and western edge of the disease distribution.

Ensure that any heads submitted for CWD testing have the requested information about the hunter and the harvested animal. In other words, remember to fill out both sides of the pre-printed CWD green labels. Remember to keep your portion of the green label – it has the unique CWD number associated with each head that you submit for testing. The email with your results will include the CWD number associated with that animal.

The success of the CWD surveillance program remains fully grounded in the support and efforts of hunters, harvesters, guides and landowners. Your continued support is gratefully acknowledged.

  • More information about the program is provided below and specific details updated annually for hunters is on CWD information for hunters.

Alberta’s ongoing program to monitor the occurrence and spread of CWD supports game management and deer harvest decisions, particularly in regards to mule deer. The program continues to adapt to changing patterns in the occurrence and spread of the disease in wild deer. The province relies heavily on hunter-harvested deer heads, or specific tissues thereof, for testing.

CWD management program goals

The surveillance program has 2 primary goals:

  1. Continue to document long-term effects of CWD in select deer populations along the Alberta-Saskatchewan border where it has occurred since the early 2000s (8 mandatory WMUs).
  2. Track the westward and northern spread along the leading edges of the known distribution of CWD in wild deer (a series of designated WMUs of interest).

As such, the areas where hunters are asked to submit heads reflect these 2 primary game management goals.

Deer head submission locations and contacts

The program continues to deploy 24-hour freezers within these targeted areas during primary rifle seasons but cannot provide them elsewhere in the province nor beyond the fall rifle seasons.

A map of CWD surveillance areas with a list of specific freezer locations is provided at CWD information for hunters.

  • Freezers generally are present mid October to mid December

Alberta’s government continues to test any head from any cervid legally harvested in Alberta. However, opportunities for submitting heads outside the target areas are extremely limited. Some local Fish and Wildlife or Environment and Protected Areas offices may no longer accept deer heads. Phone ahead before you visit an office.

As in previous years during the rifle seasons, 24-hour freezers are placed strategically throughout the surveillance areas to make it easier for hunters to drop off heads for testing. Instructions and materials are provided at each freezer.

What we need you to do

  • Fill out both sides of the green CWD labels with all the requested information.
  • Keep the bottom portion of the label for your records as it has the CWD number associated with the head you submitted.
  • Use one label for each head you submit but DO NOT take extra labels from the freezers. Leave them for other hunters to use.

Note: the head drop-off freezers are only available approximately mid-October to mid-December.

CWD testing schedule and results

All hunters who submit a head receive their test results directly in an email using the email address in their AlbertaRELM account. Hunters without an email address in their account are phoned only if the animal is positive for CWD.

The total number of CWD cases detected in wild deer, elk, and moose in Alberta since September 2005 is 7,289.

Free CWD replacement licences were discontinued in 2017.

  • These licences originally were intended to encourage hunters to return to areas of Alberta where CWD was first detected, but hunter interest and harvest in the CWD area remained high so the free replacement licence program ended.
  • With increased prevalence and distribution of CWD, replacement licences created a disproportionate harvest opportunity and advantage over hunters who had to build priority points to access a licence, particularly for antlered mule deer
  • CWD occurs in localized pockets, so hunters harvesting from the same small population each year were more likely to harvest an infected deer and gained access to annual free replacement licences.

As the number of CWD cases increased over time, the number of replacement licences:

  • became disproportionate to the number of licences available to individuals who applied for draws
  • limited the diversity of opportunity for broader populations of hunters, particularly those who wished to hunt mule deer males

CWD and human health

While there are no known cases of CWD in humans, health authorities recommend precautions.

Thank you, hunters, guides and landowners

Alberta CWD hunter surveillance began in 1998 and has one of the best continuous datasets documenting the occurrence and patterns of CWD in wild cervids, specifically in prairie and parkland ecosystems. The continued support of hunters, guides and landowners is the basis for the strength of our surveillance data.

The success of the CWD surveillance program relies heavily on participation by hunters, guides and landowners to ensure a successful harvest that provides heads to be tested. We heartily acknowledge and thank all those who helped make the program so successful and look forward to your continued support.

Patterns of CWD in Alberta

There are significant overall patterns of disease occurrence in Alberta. CWD continues to occur primarily in mule deer in comparison to white-tailed deer despite testing large numbers of both species. Similarly males are more likely to be infected than females.

Image of a graph projecting the overall prevalence from 1998-2025


 

Image of a graph showing the Chronic Wasting Disease annual prevalence species total from 2010-2024

Analyses of previous data determined the weighted CWD occurrence in Alberta is:

  • Mule Deer: male 1.00 female 0.4
  • White-tailed Deer: male 0.3 female 0.1

Thus male mule deer are the most likely and female white-tailed deer the least likely to be infected with CWD.

The geographic distribution of CWD continues to expand westward.

In conjunction with the University of Alberta, we used Alberta’s surveillance data to model the risk of CWD in male mule deer.

We looked at 3 periods:

  • a 7-year period since the first case (2005-12)
  • more recent data (2013-17)
  • the cumulative risk over all years showing the progressive increase of risk from 2005 to 2017

View the CWD risk report at: Chronic wasting disease change in risk over time in male mule deer – 2005 to 2017.

The following map tracks the year when CWD was first detected in select Wildlife Management Units (WMUs): Chronic wasting disease in Alberta by year of first detection.

The prevalence (% infected) of CWD in male mule deer continues to increase in Alberta. For details, see: Prevalence (% infected) of CWD in male mule deer.

The finding of CWD in a moose near the South Saskatchewan River valley in 2012 was the first such case identified in Canada: CWD in Moose in Alberta.

Specific information about the CWD hunter surveillance program is provided at CWD information for hunters

  • CWD surveillance is focused on the Alberta-Saskatchewan border and along the western and northern edge of the area where CWD is known to occur. However, hunter-killed deer (and elk) are accepted from anywhere in the province (as in all previous years)

Surveillance results

2025 final fall CWD surveillance results

In 2025-26, we tested 6,819 wild cervids. Overall, CWD was detected in 654 wild deer, elk and moose (9.7% overall: 451 mule deer (329 males, 122 females), 166 whitetails (138 males, 28 females), 30 elk (8 males, 22 females) and 7 moose (3 males, 4 females).

CWD was found in:

  • 25.1% of 1,794 mule deer
  • 3.7% of 4,477 white-tailed deer
  • 9.7% of 308 elk (primarily from CFB Suffield, includes the first elk from CFB Wainwright)
  • 4.2% of 164 moose (all from CFB Wainwright)

In 6,264 deer for which gender/sex was reported, CWD was detected in:

  • 29.5% of 1,115 male mule deer
  • 18.0% of 678 female mule deer
  • 4.1% of 3,327 male whitetails
  • 2.4% of 1,144 female whitetails

CWD was detected in 7 Wildlife Management Units where it was not previously documented (WMU 222, 300, 316, 320, 322, 503, 504). Also, a higher proportion of deer tested in 2025-26 were white-tailed deer (less likely to be infected than mule deer) and were harvested along the western edge of the known CWD distribution in Alberta (less CWD in western areas than eastern). Similarly, a smaller proportion of mule deer tested came from eastern Alberta (where CWD is entrenched), reflecting reduced abundance and harvest in this area, particularly mule deer males.

The overall provincial prevalence values are lower in 2025-26 than in previous years; however, they reflect the patterns mentioned above. The risk of CWD infection is still greatest in mule deer and in eastern areas where CWD has been present for at least 20 years.

Maps and statistics

News

Previous Wildlife management
Next Surveillance and response