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

Forrester, Donald; Wright, Scott

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 Cmmnission, 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.