Epizootic Hemorrhagic Disease (EHD)
Residents,
You may notice an increase in deer carcasses on our streets. Please see the below information for a possible explanation for the increase. This disease is not a threat to humans. Please also know that Morris County contracts with one company for deer removal. Deer Carcass Removal Service. There is very little we can do other than notify the company of the need to remove the deer.
The Department of Environmental Protection's Division of Fish and Wildlife has confirmed Epizootic Hemorrhagic Disease (EHD) in a deer recently sampled in Burlington County. The sample was also tested for Blue Tongue, another virus that can cause hemorrhagic disease in deer, and it was negative. Neither disease is a threat to public health.
EHD and Bluetongue are contracted from the bite of insects called midges (Culicoides sp.). They cannot be transmitted to people, and humans are not at risk by handling infected deer, being bitten by infected midges or eating infected deer meat.
The Division of Fish and Wildlife always advises against consuming meat from any game animal that appears ill.
EHD outbreaks typically begin in late summer. Symptoms in deer may include difficulty standing, drooling, and emitting foam from the mouth or nose. Since the disease causes a fever, sick or dead deer are often seen in or near water. Disease transmission ends when the first hard frost kills midges.
The clinical signs of disease caused by the EHD and Bluetongue viruses are identical and can only be differentiated by testing and virus isolation.
There have been multiple outbreaks of EHD in New Jersey deer since 1955. Bluetongue virus was isolated from one deer that died in Basking Ridge, Somerset County and another that died in Stirling, Morris County in 2014.
Thank You,
Chief Mark DiCarlo
Address/Location
Morris Township Police Department
49 Woodland Ave
Morristown, NJ 07960
Contact
Emergency: 9-1-1
Non-emergencies: 973-539-0777