In Elk Island National Park (EINP), Alberta, the first wildlife refuge and the largest enclosed park in Canada, giant liver fluke infection has been linked to the rapid decline of the northern moose population (3). The park and its ungulate assemblages are partitioned into two areas (i.e. North and South) that are isolated from each other by a major fenced highway that bisects the park, with evidence of liver fluke infection mostly found in the North section.

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Fascioloides magna, or Giant liver fluke, has an indirect lifecycle with adult flukes parasitizing deer and elk (definitive hosts) and larval flukes (cercariae) developing in aquatic snails and then encysting on vegetation (metacercariae) where they are eaten by grazing ungulates. Moose, cattle, and bison can be infected with the flukes but it cannot mature and complete its lifecycle in these hosts, nevertheless, the fluke can cause significant pathology for these ‘dead end’ hosts. The northern moose population has plummeted to 16 individuals in the past 15 years, and liver fluke is suspected to contribute to this decline.  

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Our overall objective is to describe the spatio-temporal distribution of giant liver fluke in EINP.