Keep your deer feeder from being a no-see-um feeder?: can feeder location influence biting midge exposure and EHDV risk for deer?

AGUSTÍN IE. QUAGLIA; SLOYER, KRISTIN E.; ERRAM, DINESH; MCGREGOR, BETHANY L.; HILDA LYNN; WISELY, SAMANTHA M.; BURKETT-CADENA, NATHAN D.

Wimauma, Florida

Conferencia; 3rd Annual Cervidae Health Science Symposium; 2019

Deer food supplementation is necessary to ensure healthy captive and free-ranging deer, however, animal crowding at feeders can increase the risk for directly transmitted pathogens, such as foot-and-mouth disease. It is not known whether animal crowding at feeders increases the number of bites that deer receive from biting insects that can carry pathogens, such as epizootic hemorrhagic disease virus (EHDV). EHDV is carried by biting midges (Culicoides) and has a major negative impact on the deer industry. At a deer farm in northern Florida we investigated whether host seeking Culicoides were more abundant at the feeder than in the environment where they were located (control). Because Culicoides forage and exploit specific environments, understanding whether animal crowding at feeders increases the number of bites that deer receive help could guide Hemorrhagic disease (HD) management strategies.