Ontario is surrounded by chronic wasting disease, but the illness has yet to be detected among the province's wildlife. That's according the 2023 results from Ontario's surveillance program. Now, experts say prevention is key to keeping deer and other wildlife safe.

The Wisconsin Department of Natural Resources announced Wednesday that a wild deer tested positive for chronic wasting disease (CWD) in Marquette County.

This is the first time CWD, which affects the nervous systems of deer and elk and has no known cure, has been discovered in the province.

The death of an elk in eastern Finland has been blamed on chronic wasting disease, which has never been seen in the country before.

Dozens of moose carcasses were discovered last spring in a Lapland national park, and Finland animal disease watchdog Evira has since determined that the animals died of malnutrition. The reason why they were unable to find sustenance is a mystery, as the area had relatively normal temperatures and snowfall last winter.

Across a growing swath of North America, these animals are dying from a mysterious disorder called chronic wasting disease. It’s caused not by a virus or bacterium, but a deformed protein called a prion.

Chronic wasting disease long thought not to affect human health.