N.W.T. MLA touring Sahtu this week with Food Banks Canada and Nutrition North
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CTV News
2 hours ago
- CTV News
‘Like a ticking time bomb': Saskatoon seeing more cases of Dutch elm disease
The City of Saskatoon is renewing calls for residents to be vigilant in the fight to prevent the spread of Dutch elm disease, after several cases were identified in multiple neighbourhoods across the city. On Monday the City identified positive cases in three elm trees in the Montgomery neighbourhood, two cases in Riversdale, one in Caswell Hill and an unspecified number of cases in City Park and Sutherland. Some cases are near where previous cases have been identified since Saskatoon's first case of Dutch elm disease in 2015. Others are in areas that have been un-affected until now. 'Kind of all over the city, we're seeing it in various places,' said Cate Francis, a parks superintendent with the city's urban forestry division. 'It's likely due to wood being moved around.' Francis said a combination of complacency with ongoing regulations and a lack of understanding from the general public has caused cases to increase over the last number of years. Following a positive case of the disease, the City immediately removes all positive trees and looks for stored elm wood in the immediate area. Samples are collected from symptomatic trees within one kilometre of an infected tree, and staff sweep a one-kilometre radius for any stored wood once a Dutch elm case is confirmed. Despite continued efforts reminding people not to store elm wood, city crews have already destroyed more than 4,000 kilograms of seized wood this summer. 'One log is almost like a ticking time bomb,' Francis said. 'If that fungus that causes Dutch elm disease [is] on that log and elm bark beetles get into that log, they get the fungus on them, and they will fly to nearby healthy trees to feed and transmit that fungus to all of those trees.' Dutch elm disease is caused by a fungus spread by elm bark beetles that breed under the bark of dead or dying elm wood. According to the province's Forest Resources Management Act, potential fines can reach $250,000 for individuals and $1,000,000 for corporations, or imprisonment of up to five years for transporting or storing elm wood. Residents are also encouraged to avoid pruning elm trees from April 1 to August 31, as freshly-cut wood attracts the beetles — but that hasn't stopped the disease from flourishing in recent years. 'What started off as a big Dutch elm disease scare has turned into a Dutch elm disease reality,' says David Kearns with Kearnsy Consulting and Educational Services. Kearns says Saskatoon's urban canopy has become susceptible to certain diseases after years of drought or dry conditions. He adds another factor is the cost of removing a tree. Some trees can be removed for as little at a few hundred dollars while more mature trees could cost $7,000 to remove. Saskatoon began allowing people to dispose of elm wood for free in 2024, but Kearns says many people have a problem seeing a stressed tree in their backyard affecting an entire community or beyond. He says there are thousands of trees across the city that may have to be cut down if the disease continues to spread. 'It's not just a municipal problem, it's everybody's problem,' he said. 'I think a lot of people aren't seeing the connection between the tree in their backyard and the hundreds of thousands, if not tens of millions of dollars the City of Saskatoon is going to be on the hook for controlling this problem.' The city says American elm trees with Dutch elm disease can start showing symptoms as early as June. Typically the leaves will start to wilt and turn yellow, then curl and turn brown.
CTV News
3 hours ago
- CTV News
COVID-19 vaccine covered for Alberta health-care workers
Calgary Watch Alberta will now cover the cost of COVID-19 vaccinations for health-care workers. Hannah Lepine reports.
CTV News
3 hours ago
- CTV News
Dementia in cats mimics human Alzheimer's, researchers find
A male cat named Chris curiously peaks out of his cage at the Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals (SPCA) in Montreal, Que., on Friday, June 27, 2025. THE CANADIAN PRESS/Christinne Muschi A new study has found that humans and cats develop dementia in similar ways, offering what scientists say are new opportunities to research conditions like Alzheimer's disease. The study by a team of U.K. neurological and veterinary researchers examined the brains of 25 cats donated to science after their deaths, including eight that previously showed signs of cognitive dysfunction syndrome (CDS), also known as feline dementia. Brain scans of older and CDS-affected cats showed the build-up of amyloid-beta, a misfolded protein commonly associated with Alzheimer's. Researchers say the protein can cause damage to the synapses that carry information through the brain. Once overloaded with excess protein, synapses become inflamed and even destroyed in an immune response called 'synaptic pruning,' which ultimately worsens dementia. Amyloid-beta build-up in the feline brain samples 'mirror(ed)' conditions seen in Alzheimer's patients, the study found, suggesting that parallel research into treatments could benefit both species. 'If we can successfully develop treatments for treating cat dementia, these might also be more successful at treating human dementia, and also, the opposite's true,' said lead researcher Robert McGeachan in a Thursday interview. Dementia in cats Feline and human dementia show similar symptoms, including memory loss and cognitive decline. Pet owners may notice their cats are more anxious, vocal and visibly confused as they age, with unusual sleep or social patterns and increasing difficulty keeping clean. One study estimated that more than one in four cats over the age of 11 showed signs of feline CDS, a proportion that rose to one in two after age 15. Though age-related decline in cats is widely known, the discovery that CDS shares similarities with human dementia could prove helpful in shedding light on Alzheimer's — which McGeachan notes is notoriously difficult to study and treat. 'We've been studying it for decades, we spent billions and billions of dollars in research, and ... compared to other disorders, the progress has been fairly slow and fairly poor,' he told 'One argument that's always discussed is that actually, the models we're using aren't very good. They don't accurately, kind of, replicate the disease process in humans.' Previous animal research has focused on mice, which do not develop Alzheimer's-like symptoms on their own, unless they are first genetically modified. This means that much of the progress made hasn't easily translated to human medicine. 'We're very good at treating Alzheimer's disease in mice … but (treatments have) failed in clinical trials, when they've been started to be used in humans,' McGeachan said. Cats, meanwhile, experience cognitive decline naturally, and what's more, domestic pets encounter much of the same environmental factors as their owners, making the research that much more transferable. McGeachan notes that amyloid beta build-up can occur in other animals like dogs, cattle, sheep, monkeys and even dolphins, but the link with possible dementia symptoms hasn't been confirmed in all species, just yet. Future research, he says, could explore parallels in other species or involve more longitudinal study of cats living with CDS as they age. 'Feline dementia is so distressing for the cat and for its person,' said study co-author Danièlle Gunn-Moore, in a release. 'It is by undertaking studies like this that we will understand how best to treat them.'
