Hunter education · wildlife health

Wildlife Diseases Hunters Should Know

By Hunters Guide. Written to published Canadian wildlife health and food safety material and checked on September 22, 2026.

A handful of wildlife diseases matter to Canadian hunters, and nearly all of them are handled the same way: gloves on, knives clean, hands washed, sick-looking animals left alone, and meat cooked to a verified internal temperature.

The hygiene that covers all of these at once

Handling hygiene is the set of habits that keeps animal tissue off your skin, out of your mouth and away from your food. Nothing in it is tied to one species. It's the shared defence against every disease below.

• Gloves. Disposable ones, with a spare pair in the pack. On before the first cut.
• Clean tools. Knife and saw washed between animals, not wiped on a pant leg.
• Hands. Keep soap, water and a towel in the vehicle, and don't eat or drink while you work.
• Sick animals. Do not shoot, handle or eat one that looks or acts wrong. Report it.
• Heat. Trust a thermometer in the thickest part of the meat rather than colour or habit.

The other half of the same job is cooling and cleanliness in the field. Our field dressing and game care guide covers that side. Hunting bear? Read our bear safety and bear spray guide alongside it.

Chronic wasting disease

Chronic wasting disease is a fatal disease of the brain in members of the deer family. It isn't caused by a bacterium or a virus. The agent is a misfolded protein. The Canadian Wildlife Health Cooperative describes the disease like this: "Chronic wasting disease (CWD) is a disease of the brain of deer, elk and moose which is similar to BSE (mad cow disease) in cattle and scrapie in sheep."

That agent is called a prion. The same source says it can be "transmitted by animal-to-animal contact or by contact with environments contaminated with these infectious agents". Caribou are in the deer family too, and Canadian material treats them as susceptible cervids alongside deer, elk and moose.

On the risk to people, the Cooperative is careful rather than reassuring. It "appears unlikely the disease can be transmitted to humans and most domestic animals but the full host range of CWD is unknown".

What an affected animal looks like

Clinical signs are the visible changes in condition and behaviour that appear once a disease has progressed far enough to see. The Cooperative keeps its description simple: "Infected animals become weak and emaciated and tend to drink large amounts of water and salivate excessively." Field descriptions go further. Drooping ears, a head carried low, drooling, stumbling. And the one that unsettles people most, which is no fear of you at all.

Now the part that matters more than any of those signs. An infected animal can look entirely normal for a long stretch, so a healthy-looking deer isn't a cleared deer. Appearance can tell you when to walk away. It never tells you when to relax.

That's why surveillance exists. The Cooperative's long-running Saskatchewan work was "based primarily on the testing of hunter-killed animals". Each province runs its own surveillance and disposal arrangements, and these vary by jurisdiction and often by zone. Yours is the one that applies to you.

Why bear and cougar meat is cooked all the way through

Trichinellosis is an infection caused by tiny roundworms of the Trichinella species, and it reaches people through meat rather than through handling. The Canadian Food Inspection Agency gives the route in a single line: "Trichinellosis is acquired by eating raw or undercooked meat that contains Trichinella larvae."

It builds up in carnivores and scavengers, which pick it up by eating other infected animals. The Agency says that "In Canada, the primary risk for acquiring trichinellosis is through the consumption of undercooked or raw meat from wildlife species such as bears and walruses", and that "All mammals are susceptible to infection". For that reason cougar is treated like bear in the kitchen.

Heat is the fix. Only heat: "All wild game meat, pork and horse meat should be cooked to an internal temperature of at least 71°C". Health Canada's cooking table sets it higher, at 74°C for bear and other large game, so cook to that. People trust two workarounds, and neither one works. Freezing fails, because "most species of Trichinella found in wildlife are resistant to freezing", and the preserving methods fail as well: "Curing (salting), drying, smoking or microwaving the meat does not consistently kill infective larvae." A bear roast gets a thermometer, then. So does bear sausage, and so do jerky and smoked bear.

Tularemia, and why gloves matter with hares and beavers

Tularemia is a bacterial disease of wild mammals. You'll see it most often in hares, rabbits, beavers, muskrats and small rodents. It's also one of the few on this page that reaches people through the hands rather than the plate. Health agencies describe infection after skin contact with infected tissue and after tick and insect bites, as well as from contaminated water and undercooked meat.

That's awkward for a small-game hunter. Skinning a hare or a beaver is close, wet work, and it's usually done bare-handed in the cold. The published advice is dull, and it works. Wear gloves and cover any cuts. Don't handle anything that was sluggish or unusually tame. Wash afterwards, and cook the meat through. A fever, swollen glands or a sore at the point of contact is a conversation for a clinician.

When does rabies come into a hunter's day?

Rabies is a viral disease of the nervous system in mammals, spread mainly through saliva. Most often that means a bite. Saliva reaching broken skin, or the eyes, nose or mouth, counts too. Agencies treat any possible exposure as time-sensitive, because once symptoms appear the disease is effectively untreatable.

The realistic case isn't a big-game animal. Picture a fox, skunk, raccoon or bat acting wrong. Maybe it's out in daylight when it shouldn't be, or it's unsteady. It might be oddly tame, or oddly aggressive, or salivating.

Don't touch it, and leave it where it is. Keep dogs back. Report it to your provincial wildlife or public health line. If you're bitten or scratched, agencies say to wash the wound thoroughly with soap and water and seek medical care promptly.

What hunters are told about handling wild birds

Avian influenza is a viral infection of birds. The H5N1 strain circulating now has been detected in wild birds across Canada. Human cases are rare, but Canada has had one. In November 2024 B.C. reported the first case acquired in Canada, a teenager. The province's final update says the virus "most closely matches that of wild birds found in the Fraser Valley area in October", and that "officials have also not been able to definitively identify the source of the young person’s infection." Environment and Climate Change Canada's headline instruction for handling wild birds is blunt: "As a general guideline, do not touch live, sick, or dead wild birds."

It's worth memorising the signs of a sick bird listed on the same page: "lack of energy or movement", tremors or lack of coordination, and "swelling around the head, neck, and eyes". Leave and report any bird that won't flush or can't hold its head up. For a carcass that has to be moved, the page passes on Public Health Agency of Canada advice about "wearing gloves or using a doubled plastic bag".

With birds you do handle, hunters are told to "cook game meat thoroughly, to an internal temperature of approximately 74°C" and to "do not eat, drink, or smoke while handling raw game products". Dogs get a line of their own. It's the one hunters skip: "Do not allow pets or hunting dogs to scavenge carcasses and do not feed your pets raw meat from wild birds."

What should you do if you think you were exposed?

An exposure is any moment where blood, tissue or saliva got past your defences. A cut through a glove counts. So does a bite or a scratch, a splash in the eye, or a meal you now suspect was undercooked. Seek medical care, and tell the clinician what you handled: which species, and when. Hunters routinely leave that last part out, and it changes what the clinician looks for.

Questions about wildlife diseases

What does an animal with chronic wasting disease look like?

According to the Canadian Wildlife Health Cooperative, infected animals become weak and emaciated, drink large amounts of water and salivate excessively. The same descriptions mention drooping ears, a head carried low, stumbling, and no fear of people. Be careful, though. An infected animal can look normal for a long time, so appearance is a reason to walk away and never a way to clear an animal.

Why does bear meat have to be cooked so thoroughly?

The short answer is Trichinella. The Canadian Food Inspection Agency says the primary risk of trichinellosis in Canada is eating undercooked or raw meat from wildlife species such as bears and walruses. It also says all wild game meat should be cooked to an internal temperature of at least 71 degrees Celsius. Health Canada's cooking table sets bear higher, at 74 degrees. Cougar is handled the same way, since carnivores pick up the parasite by eating other infected animals.

Does freezing wild game kill parasites?

Not reliably. Most species of Trichinella found in wildlife resist freezing, the Canadian Food Inspection Agency notes, and the freezing guidelines developed for pork do not eliminate them. Curing, drying, smoking and microwaving are listed too, as methods that do not consistently kill the larvae. What works is cooking to a verified internal temperature.

Should you handle a wild bird that looks sick?

No. As a general guideline, Environment and Climate Change Canada says not to touch live, sick or dead wild birds. When a carcass has to be moved, the same page quotes Public Health Agency of Canada advice: wear gloves or use a doubled plastic bag, avoid contact with blood, body fluids and feces, and wash your hands thoroughly afterwards.

What single habit covers most of these diseases?

Gloves, clean tools and washed hands, on every animal, every time. Nearly everything on this page reaches people one of three ways: cuts on bare hands, the mouth, or undercooked meat. Most of those routes close at once with disposable gloves, a knife cleaned between animals, soap and water in the truck, and a thermometer in the kitchen.