Deer can catch the COVID virus. What people who hunt or feed them need to know

Researchers have found COVID-19 antibodies and active infections in deer across the United States, but a North Carolina expert says not to panic.

Moriah Boggess, a deer biologist at the N.C. Wildlife Resources Commission, said the risk to both humans and the animals appears low at the moment, but that more research is needed to understand the situation.

No COVID antibodies have been detected yet in any North Carolina deer, but Boggess said testing in the state has been limited and localized so far.

In other states, including Iowa and Ohio, he said, researchers have found deer capable of contracting the virus and spreading it to one another.

Boggess said there have been no confirmed transmissions from deer to humans.

How did deer catch the virus?

Though it hasn’t been confirmed, Boggess said it’s likely deer caught the virus from humans.

“(Researchers) looked at the lineage of the virus in those deer and it very closely matched the current strains circulating in the human population,” he said. “A couple months later, it was a different strain in the human population, and it was a different strain showing up in deer.”

One study by the U.S. Department of Agriculture tested 481 white-tailed deer from Illinois, Michigan, New York and Pennsylvania. Of those, 33% had antibodies.

Another found antibodies in more than 80% of white-tailed deer in Iowa, with 33% of all deer testing positive

“It’s highly likely that deer are catching it from humans,” Boggess said. “But we don’t understand yet how that’s happening.”

And although deer are able to transmit it to one another, he said it doesn’t appear to pose a threat to them.

“It appears that they’re a host for the disease, not necessarily an animal affected by it,” he said.

Researchers have not yet found any deer that were killed by the virus or displayed symptoms of it, Boggess said.

“As of right now, it doesn’t appear to be a population issue, or anything that we really expect to turn into a population issue for deer,” he added.

What danger does this pose?

Boggess said the risk to humans is low, and that people should follow ordinary precautions when it comes to the wild animals.

Though humans could theoretically contract the virus through droplets from a live animal’s mouth or nose, Boggess said people should be avoiding wild deer anyway.

“People should not be handling wildlife,” he said. “People should not be interacting with live deer.”

For hunters, Boggess advised wearing protective gear when field dressing deer and processing meat.

Individuals should wear rubber or latex gloves and wash their hands after handling the animal — guidelines that he added are always advised to protect them against possible diseases.

“On top of that, for someone who is concerned about potentially contracting the virus from a deer, we would also recommend wearing a mask,” he said. “And also, being vaccinated is of course one of the best ways to avoid risk of a severe infection from the disease.”

If you plan to eat venison, current guidance points to it being safe.

According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, there is currently no evidence to support transmission of the virus through food.

But Boggess stressed that research on COVID risks associated with deer has been very limited.

“This is all working off of what we know about the virus transmitting through humans,” he said.

This story was originally published November 18, 2021 at 8:24 AM.