Virus outbreak kills 200 deer, most in Burlco
Associated Press
HILLSBOROUGH
Nearly 200 white-tailed deer have died in New Jersey recently after becoming infected by a virus passed on by small insects, state officials said.
Evidence of the virus, epizootic hemorrhagic disease, was first spotted in New Jersey about six weeks ago by a hunter who came upon 15 dead deer on a hunting club property in Somerset County, The New York Times reported in Tuesday's editions.
Officials said the outbreak is not expected to seriously diminish the state's deer population, estimated at 150,000.
Larry Herrighty, assistant director of the Department of Environmental Protection's Division of Fish and Wildlife, said the disease, which causes fevers and mouth, nose and eye bleeding, is affecting a "relatively small number compared to prior outbreaks." The disease killed 4,000 deer in the state 1999 and about 1,000 in the 1970s, he said.
About 65 deer have died in Hillsborough Township and an additional 104 have died in and around Burlington County's Wharton State Forest, Herrighty said. Suspected cases have also popped up in Camden, Cumberland, Morris, Middlesex and Salem counties, the newspaper reported.
Wildlife officials say the virus hasn't spread to livestock, and while it appears the disease does not affect humans, they are urging hunters to avoid the meat of deer that seem sick.
The virus, which has also had outbreaks in Kentucky, Tennessee, Indiana, Virginia, West Virginia and Pennsylvania, is usually contained after the season's first frost kills the midges that carry it, officials said.