Epizootic hemorrhagic disease

[dogg57]

(Back in the news again)“The phone’s been ringing off the hook,” said Bill Stansley, a research scientist for the state Division of Fish and Wildlife. “Calls have been picking up from police in your area (Morris County) and from so many other callers lately. Hillsborough has been busy calling for weeks.”
Deer recently found ailing and dead in Madison, Florham Park, Chatham, Harding, Long Hill and East Hanover are suspected of having been stricken by epizootic hemorrhagic disease (EHD), which is caused by bites from the culicoides variipennis midge.
Fish & Wildlife’s Deer Project leader Carole Stanko said Tuesday there had been many “presumptive reports” of EHD in Morris County. A preliminary lab report confirmed EHD in deer from the Hopewell area, where an estimated 50 to 100 died last month, after dead deer were also found in the

Hillsborough, Princeton, East Amwell and Montgomery townships.

http://beta.app.com/article/BZ/2011...sease-affects-deer-population-in-northern-N.J.

 

[Teegate]

Here we go again. They really stink when you come upon them.

Guy

 

[piker56]

culicoides variipennis midge. Umm, am I the only one who doesn't know what this is?

 

[Gibby]

culicoides variipennis midge. Umm, am I the only one who doesn't know what this is?

Biting flies. Midges are very tiny and could fit through the screen on your porch but pack a nasty bite. (aka No-see-ums)

 

[Boyd]

In case you missed it four years ago.... http://forums.njpinebarrens.com/threads/dead-deer-in-the-mullica.3962/

 

[RednekF350]

I hope it stays up north and runs it course quickly.
We got whacked down here in Pestletown really bad 4 years ago and the deer are just now starting to bounce back.
I wasn't cutting a track in a 3 mile loop in the same areas where I would normally jump 8-10 deer and found several dead deer in the early fall of 2007.

 

[Boyd]

Boy, I sure think there are way t0o many deer in South Jersey myself. I don't hunt, but if I did I could surely feed myself without ever leaving my own land (maybe without leaving my front porch). They really seem to be everywhere over the past couple years and are so destructive of the woods. We would have a lot of nice cedar swamps without deer.

I understand the whole sportsman thing, but do deer have any kind of positive impact on the environment? The negatives seems very clear... car accidents, crop damage, deforestation, spreading ticks and disease. From what I've read, deer were hunted to extinction during the 19th century in NJ and only exist today because they were re-introduced.

 

[GermanG]

I think it’s important to note that the negative impacts of deer are not from their existence here but rather from their overpopulation. At the time of European settlement what is now New Jersey was mostly virgin forest, which supported relatively small deer populations. There were also several species of large predators to keep their population in check. As the area became developed, the patchwork pattern of forest, cleared land and farms supported a much larger deer population than the earlier mature forests. The large predators were wiped out, due to a combination of deforestation, society’s unwillingness to have large predators living near us and their own aversion to living near heavy human development. So we are left with a problem of our own creation, similar to the Canada Geese populations. Hunting isn’t the perfect solution but it is the one closest to how nature manages things.

 

[Boyd]

I agree that overpopulation is the problem and am fine with the concept of using hunting to control it. So why don't we?

 

[GermanG]

I agree that overpopulation is the problem and am fine with the concept of using hunting to control it. So why don't we?

We do. Haven’t you seen all those guys with the funny orange coats running around the woods in December? The parts of the state with the real problem are the small tracts surrounded by cities and suburbs. Many of them are just too close to development to have safe hunting, yet large enough to support deer. Some areas have allowed bowhunts, which are safer but still scare some people. And many people are just plain against hunting and the governing entities often do not want the controversy.

 

[Boyd]

I'm not in a small tract near suburbs, I'm in Atlantic County surrounded by thousands of acres of forest and I think there are too many deer. At this time every year, there are lots of little cedar seedlings that look like they will grow into nice trees. But long before the winter is over, the deer will have eaten them all down to the ground. I see this all over the pines (also discussed here http://forums.njpinebarrens.com/threads/exploding-deer-population.6657/)

I understand we can't hunt in people's backyards, but why isn't the hunting season longer in areas that are already approved, or the amount of deer that can be killed increased? Is it just because we need a huge population to make it easy for weekend warriors to quickly bag a deer?

 

[GermanG]

You are right about the cedar. Deer love it. Several old Atlantic White-cedar clearcuts in the pines have been enclosed with fencing, electric in some cases, in order to give the seedlings a chance to grow beyond the reach of deer. Considering how well deer are doing in the state, I'd increase the season or limits within management zones if it were up to me. But it's not.

 

[dogg57]

Disease reducing N.J. deer population

TRENTON — State wildlife officials say a disease has killed hundreds of deer across New Jersey during the past two months, thinning the herd in at least six counties.
Epizootic Hemorrhagic Disease, or EHD, has resurfaced in one of the most significant outbreaks in state history, though it has subsided in recent weeks.

But officials tell The Star-Ledger of Newark that there’s nothing they can do about the illness, which is spread by tiny bugs. But they note EHD has no affect on humans and can’t be transmitted through handling or consuming infected deer meat
Since early August, it’s killed deer across a swath in the west-central part of the state. Nearly all reports have come from two regions — Morris, Union and northern Somerset counties and Mercer, Hunterdon and southern Somerset counties.
It’s unclear what the illness’ long-term impact could be, but officials say the state’s deer population of roughly 114,000 shouldn’t be affected too badly. They also note the disease’s death toll is minimal compared with the estimated 64,000 deer killed in New Jersey by hunters in a given year.
Experts say EHD is fairly common and returns every few years, but rarely strikes as hard and wide as it has this year.
Two of the state’s worst outbreaks came in 1999 and 2007. EHD fanned across 10 counties in 2007, and in 1999 the disease was blamed for the deaths of more than 4,000 white-tailed deer in the Salem County area.

 

[Gibby]

I had diner at a friend's house this week. Her house is located on Rt 518 in Hopewell. The woods smelled so bad that they haven't been able to open the windows. There aren't any adult deer in the area either. I also saw that many younger fawns perished to because they weren't able to care for themselves. The only deer that we saw were the older fawns that were weened and which were young enough not to get the disease. They were lucky to be in that small survival window. Hunting in the area is going to be nonexistent. It is bad.