Chronic wasting disease, which affects deer and other cervids, confirmed in Canada but experts divided over risk to humans

• ‘Zombie deer disease’ epidemic spreads in Yellowstone

The Canadian province of British Columbia has released a strategy to combat the spread of chronic wasting disease (CWD) as the virus continues to move across North America.

Officials in the westernmost province this week ordered the testing of any road-killed deer, moose, elk and caribou after two cases were confirmed at the end of January. Both cases – in a mule deer and a white-tailed deer – were found in the Kootenay district. The province also placed restrictions on the movement and disposal of deer in the area.

Mammal ‘made contact with equipment’, disrupting a subway line and shutting off water in latest escapade of city’s ‘trash pandas’

A lone Toronto raccoon was able to cut power to nearly 7,000 people in the city’s downtown core on Thursday night, highlighting the fraught coexistence between residents of Canada’s largest urban centre and the divisive “trash pandas”.

Hydro One, Ontario’s power utility, said a raccoon “made contact with equipment” at a downtown station on Thursday night, plunging swaths of the city in darkness. The loss of power also temporarily disrupted service on a key subway line and shut off water. Toronto’s fire service said the power outage also left residents trapped inside elevators.