this is fine

[ironymaiden]

whitetail deer are probably a reservoir species for covid-19

/insert rant here about how this is what happens when sprawl takes over their habitat

i am horrified for my family in PA. but also, if whitetail are carriers, i don't see why blacktail wouldn't be the same. the island deer population is down but there are still a lot of them living in close proximity in western Washington.

Comments

[dewline]

Based on the research that's come out of PA, the relevant authorities in Ontario and Québec up here in Canada are now watching the local deer populations too.

https://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/ottawa/ottawa-deer-covid-19-1.6248274

[sara]

What I'd like to understand is how people are getting close enough to deer to give them the plague but they're...not eating the deer. How does THAT work?

[varina8]

Thanks for the article. I'm sorry to read about the virus, though it has to be better for the surviving blacktails.

The islands have had an overpopulation problem since I before moved here, some years worse than others. Even then, they didn't have enough hunters to control the population, although many oldtimers would lay in a deer in the fall, and they have no predators on the islands. In my four years up there, I hit at least six deer with my car. My roommate's Plymouth was known as the deer slayer.