Oklahoma Disease of Deer Archive -  Oklahoma


Commission approves rule change to protect Oklahoma deer from deadly disease April 1, 2019 kfor.com

... “The most effective way to prevent CWD from spreading, while still providing out-of-state hunters reasonable accommodations for transporting their game back home, is to require them to transport only de-boned meat, and cleaned skulls, antlers, teeth, and hides that are completely free of any soft tissue,” ...

Deadly diseases around the country can impact deer population July 25, 2020 Oklahoma, Muskogee Daily Phoenix

... No case of Chronic Wasting Disease (CWD) has ever been confirmed in a free-ranging wild deer or elk in Oklahoma. In 1998, CWD was confirmed in a captive elk herd in Oklahoma County which had originally been imported from Montana.   In 2019, CWD was confirmed in one farmed Oklahoma elk in Lincoln County. ODWC announced it would step-up surveillance in areas ..,


Chronic wasting disease in elk: from Montana to Oklahoma Montana? mad-cow.org.  Last updated in 1999

... The records show that the most recent elk diagnosed with CWD in Oklahoma was born and raised on the Kesler Game Farm. It was shipped directly to a game farm in Oklahoma City owned by Don Kaspereit in April 1997... records of Kesler Game Farm elk from Montana Fish, Wildlife and Parks and Montana Department of Livestock...


Montana burns game farm elk January 31, 2001 High Country News

... Before the quarantine, elk from the Kesler Game Farm [in Montana] were shipped to a rancher in Oklahoma, and to a game farm near Hardin, Mont. Two of the Oklahoma elk were found to be infected with CWD, and officials suspect that the Hardin elk are also infected. Both game farms are currently under quarantine for the disease...


Western Wildlife Health CooperativeChronic Wasting Disease

... Infection has been particularly severe in a group of interconnected facilities near Rapid City, South Dakota, that

appear to be the original source of infection for other South Dakota game farms as well as the Saskatchewan epidemic. In

contrast, infected elk in two of three Nebraska farms originated in Colorado, and infected elk in Oklahoma apparently

originated in Montana; CWD has been confirmed in the Montana and Colorado source herds...


Chronic Wasting Disease (CWD).  America's answer to mad cow disease.  Last updated 1999, mad-cow.org

... -- In June,1998 CW) was diagnosed in a captive elk in Oklahoma.

-- The Oklahoma herd received more than 80 elk from commercial sources in Montana and Idaho.

-- Animals from the same origins as the Oklahoma herd went to 13 other ranches in Colorado, Idaho, Iowa, Montana, Nebraska, Alberta, and Saskatchewan in the past 11 years, plus many secondary movements. [8]

-- no control or surveillance program.


CWD, Bluetongue disease outbreak killing deer July 2, 2021 Oklahoma, Muskogee Daily Phoenix

... In 1998, CWD was confirmed in a captive elk herd in Oklahoma County which had originally been imported from Montana... Oklahoma’s wildlife department has conducted CWD monitoring on hunter-harvested deer and road-killed deer and elk since 1999. CWD was not detected in laboratory testing of tissue samples from more than 10,000 wild deer and elk from throughout our state..,


Deer likely dying from gnat-spread virus, biologists say August 16, 2012 Oklahoma, Tulsa World

Biologists have confirmed that a sickly deer found in Rogers County was dying of a hemorrhagic disease spread by a biting gnat and say 10 other deer found dead in the area along the Verdigris River likely died of the same virus ... Justin Talley is studying the insects and virus ... Although EHD and bluetongue viruses are often lumped together, they are distinctly different viruses with their own substrains, he said... 


Discovery of eight dead deer near Verdigris River prompts tests on water samples August 10, 2012 Oklahoma, Tulsa World

Verdigris River water samples are being tested ... Another possibility is a viral disease common to deer - epizootic hemorrhagic disease, or EHD or "bluetongue." Reports of EHD have made news recently in Iowa and Kansas as deer have fallen to the sickness, which is transmitted by the bite of a midge fly ... Affected deer often are lethargic, walk with their heads down, stumble and might drool or appear to foam at the mouth ... 


Domesticated elk tests positive for chronic wasting disease at Lincoln County farm April 24, 2019 Oklahoma, Tulsa World

... documented for the second time in a domesticated herd in Oklahoma...  The Agriculture Department reported it has quarantined the farmed breeding facility, an adjacent commercial hunting area associated with the facility ...


Department Of Agriculture Order Bans Rehabbers From Helping Injured Deer May 7, 2019 Oklahoma, News On 6

... the ODAFF confirmed a bull elk at a breeding farm in Lincoln County had CWD. It immediately put a ban on all whitetail deer and elk transport... also rehabbers...


Insect-borne Disease Connected to Deer Deaths in Northeast OklahomaAugust 21, 2012 By Oklahoma Dept of Wildlife Conservation

Biologists with the Oklahoma Department of Wildlife Conservation say a viral disease has been confirmed in at least one deer and may be related to 10 others found dead near the Verdigris River in northeast Oklahoma. According to Erik Bartholomew, big game biologist for the Wildlife Department, the disease that killed the deer has been in Oklahoma for several decades. The Wildlife Department receives scattered reports every year in Oklahoma and there are occasional small outbreaks like this one. The Department is continuing to monitor the area for other sick or dead deer. 

“Epizootic hemorrhagic disease (EHD) is a hemorrhagic disease caused by a virus and spread by the bite of a midge or small fly, usually during the late summer or early fall, when the midge becomes active,” Bartholomew said. “This virus is not transmissible to humans.” Bartholomew added that the virus is not known to be transmissible from an infected deer to other deer through individual contact... 


Sick deer collected for tests near Rogers county August 12, 2012 Oklahoma, Tulsa World

... "We got a call (Friday) night close to dark and were able to collect a sick deer," said Craig Endicott, northeast regional supervisor with the Oklahoma Department of Wildlife Conservation. He said a landowner checking on his cattle spotted a young deer that failed to flee with the rest of its herd ... The landowner was instructed to kill the deer, Endicott said. "We got out there right away and collected samples ... 



Water tests good, deer deaths remain a mystery August 10, 2012 Oklahoma, Tulsa World (blog)

Water samples from the Verdigris River tested negative for toxic blue-green algae, but the tests still don't tell biologists what happened to the eight deer found dead in the river north of the Will Rogers Turnpike bridge ... Two suspected causes are blue-green algae poisoning or a common viral disease, epizootic hemorrhagic disease, known as bluetongue or EHD....