By Kentucky Dept. of Fish and Wildlife Resources
Kentucky is participating in a three-state effort with Indiana and Ohio to test white-tailed deer for the presence of bovine tuberculosis.
While bovine tuberculosis is an infectious disease that primarily affects cattle, it also can infect deer. The disease has not been detected in Kentucky’s deer herd.
Wildlife officials in Kentucky, Indiana and Ohio launched the monitoring effort after an infected deer was discovered in southeastern Indiana.
Kentucky Fish and Wildlife will operate a check station in Boone County during the first two weekends of modern gun season for deer, Nov. 12-13 and Nov. 19-20.
The department also will operate check stations in Bath, Nicholas and Fleming counties on those same weekends in a monitoring follow-up. Hunters will be asked to bring their deer by the check station so biologists can take tissue samples for testing.
Fish and Wildlife Veterinarian Iga Stasiak said state agencies intend to stop the disease from spreading further.
“These efforts will help us determine whether or not bovine tuberculosis is present in our deer,” she said.
“Participation in this effort may help ensure the long-term health and stability of wild deer populations in Kentucky.”
Testing will consist of collecting a few lymph nodes from the deer’s head. Hunters who wish to have their deer mounted can provide the name of the taxidermist so that arrangements can be made to collect samples from that location. The voluntary testing is designed to obtain samples from 500 deer from each of the two regions.
Hunters outside testing areas can assist with the monitoring project. Hunters who see swollen lymph nodes, nodules in the lungs or chest cavity in any deer they are field dressing should report this to Fish and Wildlife by calling (800)858-1549 as soon as possible.
More information is available at the bovine tuberculosis surveillance online site.