Health/Disease Study of White-Tailed Deer in Southern Florida

Forrester, Donald; Wright, Scott

This is a report of the 1988-89 research activities during the fifth year of a study initiated to obtain information on the diseases, parasites, and general physical and reproductive condition of deer in several areas inhabited by Florida panthers. Reproductive and health/disease information was collected from 51 white-tailed deer(Odocoileus virginianus) from five distinct areas in the Big Cypress National Preserve (BCNP), the Fakahatchee Strand, and private land to the north of BCNP. Of these deer, 32 were collected by shooting at night by personnel of the Florida Game and Fresh Water Fish Conunission, 18 were hunter-killed animals, and one was a radio-collared deer which was found dead of unknown causes. The deer were evaluated via examinations for external and internal parasites, lesions, serologic tests for a number of infectious disease agents, determination of physical condition (weights, measurements, fat indices, etc.) and reproductive status. Deer from Bear Island (BI) were larger and in the best overall condition, followed closely by deer from the Fakahatchee Conservation Club (FCC) area and Collier land to the north of BCNP. APCs were lowest (531) for Bear Island deer and highest (2164) for Raccoon Point animals. Compared to previous years, APCs remained stable for Bear Island and FCC, decreased for Collier land, and increased for Fakahatchee Strand State Preserve (FSSP) and Raccoon Point. The highest APC (9912) was found in a 30-month-old doe from Raccoon Point. This animal had a Haemonchus Pathogenic Factor (HPF) of 196. Twinning rates were highest at Bear Island (60%) and lowest at raccoon Point (0%). Fecundity was above 80% for all areas except FSSP where only 67% of the does were pregnant in October. Deer from areas where the habitat was shared with range cattle had higher prevalences of hemorrhagic disease virus and Leptospira interrogans then did deer in areas where no range cattle occurred. Compared to previous years, prevalences of some parasites (i.e. nasal bets) have increased markedly, while others (such as ticks and lice) have decreased. Prevalences and intensities of most other parasites have remained constant.