SAN ANGELO With deer season just around the corner, deer experts are concerned about reports of an unusually high number of dead deer in several West Central Texas counties.
Dr. Dale Rollins, Texas Cooperative Extension wildlife specialist at San Angelo, said most of the calls he has received are from Schleicher County landowners who have found dead deer at water sources.
The affected region encompasses an area roughly from Eden to Ozona to Sterling City, said Dr. Don Davis, Texas Agricultural Experiment Station veterinary pathobiologist.
“While some level of deer mortality is not newsworthy, it looks like we have a hotspot developing for epizootic hemorrhagic disease,” Rollins said. “Epizootic hemorrhagic disease is a viral disease very similar to bluetongue in sheep and cattle, but EHD tends to be most common in white-tailed deer.
“When you see an abnormal number of dead deer in August and September, and the mortalities are near water holes, epizootic hemorrhagic disease is often the culprit.”
Davis agreed with Rollins that so far, the first-hand reports he’s received are consistent with Bluetongue and/or epizootic hemorrhagic disease which cause hemorrhagic disease in white-tailed deer.
“Both diseases are viral in nature and both are vectored or spread by small biting flies called Culicoides.” Davis said. “Epizootic hemorrhagic disease is seen clinically only in white-tailed deer while Bluetongue can affect other species, including sheep and exotics.
“To my knowledge, only one necropsy by a veterinarian has been made,” he said “I have had conversations with wildlife biologists and ranchers with experience or training that have observed signs, symptoms and particularly the gross lesions consistent with both diseases. So, bottom line is, it appears to be a fairly widespread outbreak of Bluetongue or epizootic hemorrhagic disease. But we cannot entirely rule out other diseases.”
Davis said Bluetongue Virus and epizootic hemorrhagic disease are not a threat to public health, but since a definite diagnosis is yet to be made, extreme caution should be used when handling dead deer in the affected area.
Rollins said deer deaths attributed to epizootic hemorrhagic disease are seasonally predictable, but unpredictable about where mortalities will crop up from year to year.
More information on epizootic hemorrhagic disease can be found at: http://www.vet.uga.edu/VPP/graybook/FAD/blt.htm
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