EHD outbreak impacts Ohio’s deer herd, livestock largely unaffected

By Brianna Smith and Joel Penhorwood

If you have been on social media this fall, chances are you have seen images of deceased deer. While Ohio’s whitetail hunting season is underway, many of those photos appeared well before opening day. Epizootic Hemorrhagic Disease, better known as EHD, hit Ohio’s deer herd especially hard in late summer and early fall, with southeastern counties seeing the most significant losses. For Ohio Division of Wildlife deer biologist Clint McCoy, it is the most severe year he has witnessed.

“I started with the Division of Wildlife in 2014, and in the last 10 years, this is the most extensive mortality event due to hemorrhagic disease that I’ve seen,” McCoy said.

Ohio typically sees EHD cases somewhere in the state each year, though severity and location vary.