COVID detected in a California mule deer, first wildlife case in state

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https://www.latimes.com/california/story/2023-04-27/first-covid-case-in-california-wildlife-mule-deer

COVID detected in a California mule deer, first wildlife case in state

BY GRACE TOOHEY STAFF WRITER
APRIL 27, 2023 11:40 AM PT

California wildlife officials have confirmed the state’s first case of COVID-19 in a wild animal, detected in a mule deer killed in 2021 in El Dorado County.

The coronavirus has been confirmed in pets and zoo animals, but the California Department of Fish and Wildlife said this is the first case of COVID-19 confirmed in “free-ranging California wildlife,” according to a news release from the agency.

The infected deer was killed by a hunter in 2021 and sampled at that time for chronic wasting disease, a type of neurodegenerative disorder that affects deer, elk and moose. That disease has never been found in the state’s deer or elk populations, but fish and wildlife department routinely monitors for it, the agency said.

After recent media reports about COVID-19 in free-ranging deer in Canada and other states, the California Department of Fish and Wildlife decided to test archived deer samples for the coronavirus, finding the positive case in the deer from El Dorado County.

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