Welcome

Welcome to the website of In Land and Life, a study to examine wildlife health and Chronic Wasting Disease (CWD). This project studies the health of wildlife in central Alberta and the social and economic consequences of poor wildlife health for Aboriginal communities and other people that rely on wildlife such as hunters, the tourism industry, and farmers.

This project aims to incorporate the perspectives of Aboriginal communities and other people vulnerable to declines in wildlife health such as hunters, the tourism industry, and farmers.  By including these perspectives it hopes to both learn from local knowledge and understand how information about CWD (and other wildlife diseases) can better be shared with these groups.

We hope to:

• describe how and where deer and moose are hunted and eaten in the partnering communities in central Alberta to see to what degree community members might be exposed to the disease;
• find out what concerns and insights Aboriginal communities and organizations have about CWD and other wildlife diseases;
• compare these concerns to the concerns of other organizations including hunters, tourism, wildlife ranchers, scientists, and government;
• test hunted deer and moose to find out if CWD or other diseases are present;
• find out why this decrease in wildlife health is occurring by including everything that is important including scientific and spiritual aspects of these health problems;
• develop better ways of communicating these risks in partnership with these communities and leaders involving video, campouts, community presentations, feasts, community visits by researchers, and university tours by communities.

We are excited about this research and about doing it in ways that are respectful of Aboriginal traditions and concerns.  We hope this research can help us all understand why moose and deer health is so bad.

Funding for In Land and Life is provided by: