WHAT IS BLUE TONGUE?
 

IV'E SEEN A LITTLE ABOUT IT ON TV BUT WHAT IS IT AND WHAT CAN WE DO TO STOP IT?

RE: WHAT IS BLUE TONGUE?
 

I believe you are refering to Epizooic Hemoragic Disease, or EHD. You cant stop it. Its carried by the black midge, or black fly, or gnat, depending on how "into" bugs you are. Deer contract it, and start showing signs right about this time of year. Swollen mucus membranes, ruptured tubercles in the lungs, bleeding, swollen tongue, unable to swallow, and usually found dying near water. Once they have it, its almost always not reversible in the wild.

The irony is...all you guys in here who clobber me because me and others raise captive reared whitetails, and tell me it should be illegal, etc etc? Many states have deer farmers who are trying to find antibiotics to administer to deer with EHD symptoms. IF they can survive, the offspring have a much less chance of gettin it. Plus, guys are breeding with EHD resistent stock from the south too.

RE: WHAT IS BLUE TONGUE?
 

My hunting areas got hit hard by this back in the mid 90's. The local biologist estimated 1/3 - 1/2 of the deer population in the county,died from it. Found a lot of dead deer that year, more racks and skulls than shed antlers even. And vast majority of them were next to water.

RE: WHAT IS BLUE TONGUE?
 

All i know is that it kills alot of deer. One farmer got it on his land and they hauled over 40 whitetails out of his land.

RE: WHAT IS BLUE TONGUE?
 

In southern Maryland, it killed about 80 percent of the deer about 5 years ago.

RE: WHAT IS BLUE TONGUE?
 

that's some scarey stuff...i had NO clue it even existed.

RE: WHAT IS BLUE TONGUE?
 

I talked to a guy here that has a deer farm.He said he'd brought in some deer from the north and the"no see um's"or sand gnats gave them the disease but the southen deer had built up an immunity.

RE: WHAT IS BLUE TONGUE?
 

No immunity in NC. We were hit about 5 years ago in the eastern part of the state. Estimates say we lost 20-25% of the deer herd in the affected area.

RE: WHAT IS BLUE TONGUE?
 

DIAA Vet Pages - Blue Tongue
Bluetongue is a viral disease of sheep that is transmitted by biting ...
bluetongue virus (BLU) include sheep, goats, cattle, buffaloes, deer and antelopes. ...
http:/www.diaa.org/bluetng.htm
New Window-www.diaa.org/bluetng.htm][/url]Similar Sites-Archived

RE: WHAT IS BLUE TONGUE?
 

They are often found near water. They are attempting to drink but cannot. I my animal biology is up to date, the throat passage is blocked by the tongue, which prohibit the animal from ingesting water.

Edit...nevermind....good ole Bill already made that clear....:D