Joanie Haidle is accustomed to seeing deer around her rural Armstrong County home. But not drowned, half-submerged in the pond that fronts her home.

It was late summer when Haidle, an avid hunter, made the sad discovery. Since the deer showed no outward signs of trauma that would have contributed to its death, she summoned the Pennsylvania Game Commission.

Haidle said too much time had passed from the time the deer was discovered, to when it was examined, to say for sure, but Game Commission agents suspected the deer was suffering from epizootic hemorrhagic disease — EHD — which led to its weakened condition, and subsequent drowning.

“I’d never heard of epizootic hemorrhagic disease,” Haidle said. “I was familiar with chronic wasting disease, but this is not this one.”

Indeed, chronic wasting disease — CWD — poses a significant threat to our whitetail population, and rightly has been in the news, as the always-fatal infectious disease slowly continues to make inroads in our state. The Pennsylvania Game Commission has established three Disease Management Areas in response to the discovery of CWD is both captive and free-ranging deer.

While CWD is a disease of the brain and nervous system of deer, elk and moose, and can be spread from animal to animal, EHD is something entirely different. It comes from the bite of a fly or midge. In recent years, outbreaks of EHD have occurred mostly in the state’s southwestern counties.

According to the Game Commission, EHD can kill an infected animal within 5 to 10 days, but it is not spread from deer to deer. Agency officials note that while EHD is not infectious to humans, it is important to note that signs of EHD can be observed with other diseases of deer. However, there is no link whatsoever between EHD and CWD.

PGC wildlife veterinarian Dr. Justin Brown said EHD should be curtailed with the first hard frost, which kills the insects that are spreading the disease. He noted that EHD, unlike CWD, is a seasonal disease that occurs sporadically in Pennsylvania. While deer mortality can be significant locally during outbreaks, there is no evidence that EHD can lead to long-term negative impacts on deer populations.

According to the Game Commission, clinical signs of hemorrhagic disease are all a result of the damage that the virus does to the walls of the blood vessels. They can range from sudden death to chronic disease. Clinical signs include swelling of the face or neck, loss of appetite, lethargy, weakness, lameness, respiratory distress, fever, and excessive salivation. Deer will often have ulcers in the mouth and may bleed from the nose and/or mouth. Infected animals may develop swollen, blue tongues. They will also often experience hoof overgrowth and may have indentations or cracks in the walls of their hooves. Usually infected deer will go into shock and die within 8 to 36 hours of the onset of clinical signs.

Since finding the drowned deer in her pond, Haidle has noticed large flocks of turkey vultures circling the wooded areas near her home. She’s heard tales of neighbors finding multiple dead deer on their properties, and experienced the stench of rotting flesh while traveling local back roads. None are proof-positive symptoms of an outbreak in her locale, but certainly enough to warrant concern.

“While nothing can be done to prevent or treat the disease, it’s important for folks to report any observations of dead or potentially sick deer to the Game Commission,” she said.

Pennsylvania Game Commission Southwest Region Director Tom Fazi echoed that request, urging residents to report sightings of sick-looking or dead deer, which are often found near water, by calling their regional office.

The Southwest Region Office — which covers Allegheny, Armstrong, Beaver, Cambria, Fayette, Greene, Indiana, Somerset, Washington and Westmoreland counties — can be reached at 724-238-9523; The agency’s Northwest Region Office serves Butler, Clarion, Crawford, Erie, Forest, Jefferson, Lawrence, Mercer, Venango, Warren counties, and can be reached by calling 814-432-3187.