Hot and dry conditions have allowed a pair of deer diseases to spread in Eastern Washington, state wildlife officials say.
The Washington Department of Fish and Wildlife announced this week that the region is seeing outbreaks of bluetongue and epizootic hemorrhagic disease, two viral infections caused by biting gnats that can kill deer quickly.
Staci Lehman, a Washington Department of Fish and Wildlife spokesperson, said the agency started getting calls last week from people who saw sick or dying deer primarily in Stevens and Spokane counties, and that the calls ramped up significantly on Monday.
As of Wednesday, Lehman said wildlife officials have counted at least 31 cases in Stevens County, 35 in Spokane County and three each in Walla Walla and Whitman counties.
The last major outbreak of the two diseases in WDFW's Region 1 was in 2021. It was widespread across the 10-county region. Lehman said biologists suspect this outbreak is also region-wide, but that its severity is still "to be determined."
"We don't know yet what's going to happen here," she said.
WDFW is still waiting on test results from the Washington Animal Disease Diagnostic Laboratory to confirm the outbreaks. But Lehman said officials are confident that the diseases are present because of the time of year, weather conditions and reports of deer with telltale symptoms - deer acting disoriented, being unresponsive to humans and foaming at the mouth.
EHD and bluetongue are unrelated to chronic wasting disease. Outbreaks typically happen during hot and dry years, when some watering holes dry up. That makes deer are more likely to congregate around spots with the infected gnats.
Deer infected with bluetongue or EHD can die within one or two days or just become sick and stop eating, leading them to become emaciated. Other animals can be exposed but usually don't show such severe symptoms.
Last month, the Idaho Department of Fish and Game announced that it had found deer infected with EHD southeast of Lewiston.
Lehman said the 2021 outbreak was more widespread than this one appears to be so far, and that it lasted long into the fall.
She also said it reduced the number of deer available for hunters beyond just the 2021 hunting season, and that some areas were just starting to recover before this outbreak showed up.
There's no treatment for the disease. Wet weather can put the brakes on an outbreak by spreading the deer out. Cold weather is even better - the first hard frost kills the disease-carrying gnats.
News of the diseases rearing their heads comes at an inopportune time, with archery hunters already in the field and other hunting seasons still to come.
"We do want hunters to be aware as they're planning their trips," Lehman said. "It might limit their options."
Humans aren't affected by either of the viruses, according to WDFW. The agency recommends hunters avoid shooting and eating animals that are obviously sick.
WDFW is urging landowners who find dead deer on their property to either bury them or let them decompose in place. The agency also has an online form where people can report sightings of sick and dead animals.
The agency doesn't have the capacity to test every animal, but the reports help biologists track the disease's progress.