Category Archives: cervids

Virus Hurts NJ Deer Hunt

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In the North, the virulance of epizootic hemorrhagic disease in white-tailed deer varies greatly. The outbreak may be mild and kill only a few deer, or it may have population-level impact. This year in New Jersey, or at least parts of that state, EHD appeared to have an impact on the state’s exceptionally dense deer population levels.

(Read more from:
NJ.com, the on-line arm of the Newark Star-Ledger
NBC New York)

Now that it’s hunting season, the impact of the virus is being seen in a reduced harvest. During the muzzleloader season in the Great Swamp National Wildlife Refuge, less than half of the typical number of deer were taken, which may be a harbinger of rifle season numbers.

Read the story in MyCentralJersey.com. (And yes, the story goes on to other game topics before the end of the first page.)

Photo: License check in 2008, Great Swamp National Wildlife Refuge, NJ. Credit: John and Karen Hollingsworth, courtesy of the US Fish and Wildlife Service

Possible Adenovirus in Deer in California

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A homeowner in Colfax, Cal. has found five dead deer in her yard since September. A local veterinarian suspects that it might be adenovirus. However, the homeowner apparently called her local newspaper before reporting the deer to the California Department of Fish and Game, so while we know the deer are dead, no tests have been done.

Read the article in the Auburn (Cal.) Journal.

Elk Collared in Colorado

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Can Colorado have both sunflower agriculture and healthy elk and deer herds? That’s the aim of research by Colorado Parks and Wildlife. The three-year project will track 20 elk and 20 deer to learn their migration patterns. The contractor, Quicksilver Air of Alaska used a helicopter and net gun to capture the animals.

The results of the study will allow wildlife biologists and farmers to come up with a plan to keep the elk and deer away from the sunflower crop. The state pays half a million dollars a year to farmers for crop damages, says an article in the Durango Herald.

The detailed article also says that the project will cost $275,000. Similar contractors, the article notes, charge anything from $500 an animal to $1,600 per hour for their services. The collars cost about $3,000 apiece.

Read the article in the Durango Herald here.

Photo: 3268zauber

CWD in Missouri, Again

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Chronic wasting disease (CWD) was found in captive white-tailed deer in Macon County, Missouri last week. In 2010, another captive deer operation in Linn County, Missouri, run by the same group, was found to have CWD. Those deer were all killed and no deer at the facility have tested positive for CWD since.

The state’s CWD contingency plan, announced in 2003, has been activated in response to the recent discovery.

I was surprised not to find a press release about this from the Missouri Department of Conservation on its site, but here’s the press release from the Missouri Department of Agriculture. Most of the coverage I’ve seen so far merely reprints that press release.

For sample response plans, see this list of CWD policy resources from the Chronic Wasting Disease Alliance.

Michigan, North Carolina and Virginia have response plans on the list, but not Missouri. The top of the page has national and federal resources, so scroll down for state policies.

Wondering where CWD is now? Here’s a map from the Chronic Wasting Disease Alliance.

Photo: This white-tailed deer in Wisconsin has CWD. Photo Credit: Wisconsin Department of Natural Resources

EHD in Michigan

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Two white-tailed deer have been diagnosed with epizootic hemorrhagic disease (EHD) in a southwestern county of Michigan. Last year 250 deer in that Michigan county died of the disease.

A Michigan Department of Natural Resources press release has the details of the finding, plus a history of EHD in the state. The release states: “More frequent outbreaks of EHD in Michigan could be a consequence of climate changes that favor the northward spread of the biting flies that spread the disease, said Russ Mason, chief of the DNR Wildlife Division.”

EHD is endemic to North America. The disease is most common in white-tailed deer, but can infect all ruminants. Humans are not known to catch the disease. 

Few deer die from the disease in the southeastern U.S., which experiences a mild form of the disease. Outbreaks in the Midwest and Northeast can range from a small outbreak with few deaths to something more widespread. The severity of the outbreak depends on the weather (wet weather favors breeding midges), how many of the biting  midges are around, herd immunity, and other factors.


Read more about the Michigan outbreak from Michigan (Public) Radio, here. And from the South Bend Tribune, here.
 
Read the details on EHD in an Iowa State University fact sheet, here.
 
Photo: Healthy does in Michigan, courtesy of the Michigan Department of Natural Resources.

Epizootic Hemorrhagic Disease in Penn.

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Last week epizootic hemorrhagic disease (EHD) was found in white-tailed deer in Pennsylvania. The diagnosed deer were from Northampton County, in eastern Pennsylvania. The county is across the Delaware River from New Jersey, which is also reporting cases of EHD.

One captive deer in Erie County, in the northwestern corner of the state, has also died of EHD, according to a Pennsylvania Game Commission press release.


Read a story from the Wayne Independent here.

The always informative moderator’s comments from the ProMED listserv can be found here. (Scroll down to the end to find the comments in square brackets.) It contains background info on EHD from Iowa State University.

The important background information is that EHD is endemic to North America. The disease can infect most ruminants, but it it most common in white-tailed deer. A mild form of the disease is found in the southeastern U.S., where few deer die from the disease. Periodic outbreaks in the Midwest and Northeast can range from a small outbreak with few deaths to something more widespread. The severity of the outbreak depends on several things, including the weather (wet weather favors breeding midges), how many of the biting  midges are around, and herd immunity.

Read the details in the Iowa State University fact sheet.

Photo: A healthy white-tailed deer. Credit: Ryan Hagerty, courtesy of US Fish and Wildlife Service

More Bird Species Found When Willows Rebound

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A paper in the September issue of Ecological Applications says that when previously stunted willow trees near rivers in Yellowstone National Park started to grow, the diversity of songbird species found within the willow stands increased.

The study grouped the willow stands into three types: suppressed (likely by over-browsing and -grazing by elk and bison), released (where the willows had begun to grow), and previously tall. The “released” and “previously tall” willow stands had similar range in vegetation heights, but were not distributed over the landscape in the same way.

Because the diversity of songbird species in both the released and previously tall willow stands were similar, the researchers concluded the vertical complexity was more important to supporting that diversity than horizontal complexity.

The study has implication for other places where tree growth has been stunted by over-browsing by deer, moose, elk, or other animals.

The study does not address the reason why the willows started to grow (“…a possible consequence of wolf [Canis lupus] restoration, climate change, or other factors.”), so no help there. But if you need more data on the connection between tree height and songbird diversity, you can get it in this paper.

Abstract and access to the article through subscription or fee, here on the Ecological Applications site.

A free look at the paper on a researcher’s Web site, here.

Photo: Willow catkins in Yellowstone National Park, J. Schmidt, courtesy of National Park Service.

Epizootic Hemorrhagic Disease – Update

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It is the season of biting midges, and therefore the season for epizootic hemorrhagic disease in deer.

In Kansas, there have been several reports of dead or dieing deer. Two of those cases have been confirmed as epizootic hemorrhagic disease (EHD), or EH, as this article in InfoZine that reported the outbreak calls it. Read the story here.

EHD is cited as the likely source of dead and dieing deer in Montana, in this article from the Liberty County Times.

Read the ProMed entries on both these events for background, wise commentary and corrections to the articles. The comments are at the bottom of the page in [brackets]. Read it here.

There is a possible outbreak in North Dakota. It is still being investigated. Read the story in the Bismark Tribune.

And finally, two weeks ago New Jersey announced a possible outbreak of EHD. We posted that as an addition to that week’s wildlife disease update, but in case you missed it, here’s the press release.

Late addition: On Sept. 7, 2011, New York State has announced that the death of 100 deer in Rockland County two weeks ago was caused by EHD. Read the press release here.

Photo: A healthy deer. Photo credit: Steve Hillebrand, courtesy US Fish and Wildlife

Wildlife Disease Roundup

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Dozens of white-tailed deer in Montana have died of a mysterious ailment which is suspected to be epizootic hemorrhagic disease. The Great Falls Tribune has a brief item. Check out this item on ProMed-mail for a helpful reference to the no-see-ums that transmit the disease.

[ADDITION: The day after this was posted, the state of New Jersey announced epizootic hemorrhagic disease in deer in that state. You can read the press release here.]

A feral hog in Midland County, Michigan has tested positive for pseudorabies. Read the article on Michigan Live, here. Sounds ridiculously scary until you find out that porcine pseudorabies has nothing to do with rabies. It’s a herpes virus, and it doesn’t effect humans, but it does kill dogs and other animals, wild and domestic. Once again, ProMed-mail has the needed explanation. Read it here.

Also in the catagory of “needed explanations” and “wildlife disease” is a recent report in the Los Angeles Times of the “first U.S. transmission” of rabies linked to a vampire bat. Uh, no. Even the article says the man was bitten by a vampire bat in Mexico, then traveled to the U.S. Unfortunately, the story was also picked up on the gossip site Gawker.com. Here’s the LA Times story. And here’s a debunking from a biology professor at Long Island University

Finally, the Wisconsin Department of Natural Resources recently launched a new Web site on chronic wasting disease, aimed at hunters. Find the Web site at http://www.knowcwd.com/ And find an article about the Web site and Wisconsin’s “Know CWD” campaign in the Houston Chronicle.

There were just no pretty pictures for this one. Not even a nice picture of a virus available.

Deer Problems in Paradise

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The islands of Hawaii have no native deer, so, you might think, that corner of paradise would be free of the deer over-population problems that plague most of the country, particularly those parts of the country where there are white-tail deer. You would be wrong, of course. Axis deer (native to India) were introduced to Hawaii, and deer over-population problems have ensued. Read more about the situation in the Maui News.

We’re reporting this just in case you thought that taking a job in Hawaii would get you away from deer management issues.

Axis deer are also naturalized in Texas and Florida. Read a species description from the Mammals of Texas.