Disease

Bluetongue claims about 1,000 Idaho whitetails

Officials in Eastern Washington, Idaho and northeastern Oregon said they were unprepared to make estimates on the toll the continuing bluetongue outbreak plaguing deer in the region was taking on big game. Washington officials still aren't attempting to take a stab at numbers other than saying it's the most widespread bluetongue outbreak they've documented.

Based on continuing reports of dead deer, Fish and Game officials estimate up to 1,000 whitetails have died from an outbreak of bluetongue, a virus transmitted by gnats that is similar to Epizootic Hemorrhagic Disease (EHD) in Idaho alone. It is difficult to get the exact number of diseased or dead animals, but the outbreak is not expected to significantly reduce whitetail populations.

The Clearwater area had a large-scale outbreak of EHD in 2003, and Fish and Game officials estimated up to 10,000 whitetails died. There were smaller local EHD outbreaks in the last five years.