Challenges and opportunities using hunters to monitor chronic wasting disease among wild reindeer in the digital era

Mysterud, Atle; Viljugrein, Hildegunn; Hopp, Petter; Andersen, Roy; Bakka, Haakon; Benestad, Sylvie L.; Madslien, Knut; Moldal, Torfinn; Rauset, Geir Rune; Strand, Olav; Tran, Linh; Vikøren, Turid; Våge, Jørn; Rolandsen, Christer Moe

doi:10.1002/2688-8319.12203

Cited by 6 publications

(9 citation statements)

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“…In Norway, wild reindeer management is aided by recreational hunting in 24 management areas. These areas provide the PSU for reindeer with some exceptions (Mysterud et al., 2023 ). The surveillance activities achieved a sample return rate of 61.5% out of a maximum of 22,123 reindeer aged 1 year or older, harvested for 2016–2021 (Mysterud et al., 2023 ).…”

Section: Assessment/resultsmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…These areas provide the PSU for reindeer with some exceptions (Mysterud et al., 2023 ). The surveillance activities achieved a sample return rate of 61.5% out of a maximum of 22,123 reindeer aged 1 year or older, harvested for 2016–2021 (Mysterud et al., 2023 ). Samples from recreational hunting constituted 84% of the total sample size from wild reindeer.…”

Section: Assessment/resultsmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…As a basis for management decisions, surveillance activities in herds neighbouring confirmed positive populations have been set to a design prevalence lower than 0.5%. To include the possibility of detecting a relatively recent introduction, the design prevalence was set at two to four infected individuals (Viljugrein et al., 2021 ; Mysterud et al., 2023 ).…”

Section: Assessment/resultsmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…The wild reindeer of Norway were not included in the analysis due to prior detection of CWD Ly+. The test results of wild reindeer of Norway were analysed and reported in Mysterud et al (2023) (see Section 3.2.2.5). By assuming all tests were negative, it is also possible to compare the estimated SSe among PSUs also for the CWD Ly-form (with detected cases in moose and red deer).…”

Section: Sources Of Positive Cases and Implications For Future Survei...mentioning

confidence: 99%

“…For a given design prevalence, the desired system sensitivity can be set according to time to reach a certain level of confidence, for a specific risk of introduction. In Norway, for example, the probability of CWD-freedom was calculated the wild reindeer populations other than Nordjfella was calculated for design prevalence of 1%, 0.5%, 0.3% and restricted to a lower threshold equivalent to four individuals in the population (Mysterud et al, 2023). A high confidence of freedom-from-CWD was only achieved in a few of the larger populations for a 1% design prevalence.…”

Section: Estoniamentioning

confidence: 99%

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Monitoring of chronic wasting disease (CWD) (IV)

Koutsoumanis¹,

Allende²,

Álvarez‐Ordóñez³

et al. 2023

EFS2

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The European Commission requested an analysis of the Chronic Wasting Disease (CWD) monitoring programme in Norway, Sweden, Finland, Iceland, Estonia, Latvia, Lithuania and Poland (9 January 2017–28 February 2022). Thirteen cases were detected in reindeer, 15 in moose and 3 in red deer. They showed two phenotypes, distinguished by the presence or absence of detectable disease‐associated normal cellular prion protein (PrP) in lymphoreticular tissues. CWD was detected for the first time in Finland, Sweden and in other areas of Norway. In countries where the disease was not detected, the evidence was insufficient to rule out its presence altogether. Where cases were detected, the prevalence was below 1%. The data also suggest that the high‐risk target groups for surveillance should be revised, and ‘road kill’ removed. Data show that, in addition to differences in age and sex, there are differences in the prion protein gene (PRNP) genotypes between positive and negative wild reindeer. A stepwise framework has been proposed with expanded minimum background surveillance to be implemented in European countries with relevant cervid species. Additional surveillance may include ad hoc surveys for four different objectives, specific to countries with/without cases, focusing on parallel testing of obex and lymph nodes from adult cervids in high‐risk target groups, sustained over time, using sampling units and a data‐driven design prevalence. Criteria for assessing the probability of CWD presence have been outlined, based on the definition of the geographical area, an annual assessment of risk of introduction, sustained minimum background surveillance, training and engagement of stakeholders and a surveillance programme based on data‐driven parameters. All positive cases should be genotyped. Sample sizes for negative samples have been proposed to detect and estimate the frequency of PRNP polymorphisms. Double‐strand sequencing of the entire PRNP open reading frame should be undertaken for all selected samples, with data collated in a centralised collection system at EU level.

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Section: Assessment/resultsmentioning

confidence: 99%

Section: Assessment/resultsmentioning

confidence: 99%

Section: Assessment/resultsmentioning

confidence: 99%

Section: Sources Of Positive Cases and Implications For Future Survei...mentioning

confidence: 99%

Section: Estoniamentioning

confidence: 99%

See 3 more Smart Citations

Monitoring of chronic wasting disease (CWD) (IV)

Koutsoumanis¹,

Allende²,

Álvarez‐Ordóñez³

et al. 2023

EFS2

Self Cite

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Lessons learned and lingering uncertainties after seven years of chronic wasting disease management in Norway

Mysterud,

Tranulis,

Strand

et al. 2024

Wildlife Biology

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Chronic wasting disease (CWD) is well known among cervids in North America. Nevertheless, management faced different types and degrees of uncertainty when CWD was first detected in reindeer Rangifer tarandus in Nordfjella, Norway in 2016. We present a timeline of the efforts to control CWD, and identify how the process, measurement, environmental, and implementation uncertainties developed from the onset (2016) to the current situation (2023) after seven years of CWD management. In the ‘acute' phase (2016–2019), political ambitions were high and depopulation of the Nordfjella reindeer area involving marksmen aimed at eradicating CWD. Subsequently, increased surveillance and increased male harvest was used to enable early detection or to achieve ‘freedom‐from‐CWD' status of the adjacent populations. The second phase (2020‐now) came when cases were detected in the large reindeer population in Hardangervidda. Management authorities postponed culling using marksmen, signifying an important change, with more emphasis on socio‐political acceptance and consideration of the negative long‐term consequences of conflicts with local stakeholders. The subsequent dialogue processes between scientists and local management ended in joint advice. However, the Ministry set aside all advice in 2022, halting further actions, after pressure and negative media attention. During this period, there was no clear research plan to increase knowledge of CWD to reduce process uncertainty; however, large surveillance investments were made to reduce measurement uncertainty. Despite this, detecting and estimating CWD among reindeer at low prevalence remains a key challenge. Governance challenges have emerged as significant implementation uncertainties, partly due to the uncertain occurrence of CWD.

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