Minnesota's mysterious run as a Midwestern state ostensibly free of a deadly deer virus has come to an end with lab confirmation that a group of wild whitetails in central Minnesota were stricken by epizootic hemorrhagic disease (EHD).
The outbreak in Stearns County is believed to have killed up to 20 or more deer. Only two carcasses suitable for testing and tissue samples from both deer tested positive at National Veterinary Services Laboratories in Ames, Iowa. The Minnesota Department of Natural Resources announced the results Wednesday morning.
"All of our neighboring states have been dealing with EHD for years,'' said DNR Wildlife Research Manager Lou Cornicelli. "So it was alwats a question of whien it would show up in Minnesota.''
The rapidly progressing disease is carried by biting midges, also known as gnats and no-see-ums. It isn't contagious from deer to deer and the seasonal risk goes away after the first frost, but EHD has potential to significantly reduce local deer populations on a short-term basis, state wildlife officials said.
Just one week ago, the Minnesota Board of Animal Health said EHD killed two farmed deer in Houston County. The owner submitted samples because of their suspicious deaths. The virus first showed up on a Minnesota deer farm last year, killing six animals. But wildlife researchers have never detected an outbreak in the state's wild herd.
"There's no good reason why it hasn't shown up here before,'' Cornicelli said.
Cornicelli said the DNR urges public reporting of deer deaths, especially when numbers of deer die in proximity to each other for unexplained reasons. Deer stricken by EHD often die near water because fevers caused by the disease make them thirsty.
The agency was alerted to 12 to 20 dead deer at different Morrison and Stearns County sites over Labor Day weekend. On Tuesday after Labor Day, DNR crews found eight to 12 carcasses. The agency said the two dead deer that tested positive for EHD were found in the St. Stephen area.