Disease strikes local deer

Home City News Disease strikes local deer

A plague has come to south-central Michigan. It has killed thousands, in up to 30 counties.

But humans don’t have to worry about coming down with a case of Epizootic hemorrhagic disease, colloquially known as Bluetongue Disease.

It only affects whitetail deer.

“In most years, we get reports of about 1,000 deer dying in about six counties. This year, we’ve had reports of about 13,000 deer in 30 counties,” said Michigan Department of Natural Resources wildlife biologist and pathologist Tom Cooley.

Deer receive the virus through bites from an insect called a midge, Cooley said.

“It’s a very quick-acting virus,” Cooley said. “It can act up in a deer as quickly as one or two days after the first midge bite. Within 14 days, a deer that is going to die from EHD will have died.”

Cooley said that the symptoms of the disease are very noticeable.

“It’s a vascular disease, so you’ve got lots of internal bleeding, hemorrhaging between the skin and muscle, and blood in the chest cavity,” he said.

John Davis, the owner of Muley’s Ole Tyme Meat Shop, which processes deer meet, also said that symptoms are plainly visible.

“Deer get things like a swollen tongue, skin lesions, and cracked hoofs,” he said.

This has been a particularly bad year for EHD, said Cooley, due to the emergence of a new strain of the disease.

“EHD has three different subspecies: one, two, and six. Usually, we just have to deal with number two. This year, though, it’s number six,” Cooley said.

The new strain, said Cooley, has killed many deer, most of whom have never had to deal with it before. This has led to a spike in EHD-related deaths across southern and central Michigan.

Even though there is no danger of the disease’s afflicting humans, it has still affected them. Davis said that his store has processed meat from 30-40 fewer deer than this time last year.

Davis also said that he has heard mixed accounts from local hunters about the disease’s impact. Some report significant infection rates, and others see no difference from previous years.

“It really depends on the locale,” David said. “It’s the luck of the draw wherever they’re hunting.”

While the disease does not render deer meat unsafe for human consumption, most hunters have no interest in it, Davis said.

“If a hunter sees a deer with obvious symptoms, they probably wouldn’t shoot it unless to put it out of its misery,” he said.

Cooley said that little can be done about this problem but to allow the disease to run its course.

“There’s really nothing you can do. The disease doesn’t kill every deer,” he said. “You’ve really just got to ride it out. This year, conditions were right so early. A mild winter didn’t kill as many midge larvae, and a hot summer provided them great breeding conditions. What stops their cycle is the frost.”

According to an EHD-incidence map that is frequently updated by the Michigan Department of Natural Resources, there have been 379 reports of deer deaths in Hillsdale County likely caused by EHD, with two townships in the county having confirmed reports of EHD deaths. Neighboring Branch and Calhoun Counties have reported deaths of 439 and 1190, respectively.

jbutler@hillsdale.edu