With the recent discovery of epizootic hemorrhagic disease (EHD) in Johns-town’s Westmont Borough, game commission officials are urging local hunters to be aware of uncommon actions by any deer.

“Well, first they should carefully observe any deer that they are considering taking,” said Southwest Region Wildlife Management Supervisor Samara Trusso. “Is it lethargic, drooling, stumbling or staggering around? Oftentimes they don’t react to any kind of stimulus. For instance, any type of loud noise does not affect them, something that normally would spook a deer and send it bounding away, and they don’t respond.”

While it’s important to note that to date no other reports of affected deer have been made in this area, Trusso also said it’s possible that an affected deer may not show any visible signs of the disease.

Thus, it would be very difficult for anybody to notice abnormal physical behavior.

There are multiple ways, however, for successful hunters to know if a dead deer is affected.

“If a person has taken a deer with no physical symptoms, they can look for sores on the mouth or the palate or the tongue,” she said. “When they open it, look for abscesses or paint brush striping – they’re dark red and they look like stripes. It can be on the lungs, which would be hard to see depending on where it was shot or the stomach or intestines. Does it smell bad? If it smells and they know it was not gut shot but it still smells bad. These are ways to tell if a deer is affected.”

Trusso said that the game commission needs a lot of help from hunters and others who observe wildlife to try and learn more about where and how this disease is spreading.

“If anybody is concerned that it’s a deer that is not fit for human consumption, they can contact our office (724-238-9523) and we will send an officer to come out an look at that animal and potentially give them another tag and get rid of the carcass.

“I would need to know the location – where it was found – what made them think it’s an EHD animal and how many, if there’s more than one. And give me their phone number if I’m not available. I would like to be able to determine how this is spreading and why.”

Because this is a public health issue, Trusso said the agency is very cautious about animals that they think may be affected.

“We have had very few calls about sick or dying deer,” she said. “I have spoken to the officer that’s in charge of that area (of Cambria County) and he hasn’t seen any other sick or dying deer. Of course, if somebody saw something they would be urged to contact us.”

Trusso said it’s important that hunters submit harvest report cards this year to help the game commission get a sense of the impact – if any – that the disease has had on hunters’ success.

“They are already required to turn them in,” she said, “but it’s super-important this year. I’m relying really heavily on citizen participation to track this disease this year.”

As far as the increased numbers of EHD-affected deer, Trusso could only offer speculation.

“There have been EHD outbreaks in 20 states including states that are not in the normal EHD areas and states that are familiar with the disease are experiencing larger than normal numbers. We think it’s related to weather but we’re not sure.

“The states that are reporting it are in drought conditions. Those states that are in drought conditions, it may be spreading because of that. That’s not a fact, but something we’re theorizing at this point.”