Insect-borne disease affecting deer worries Vermont

MONTPELIER, Vt.—A deer disease that has spread to neighboring New York state has a Vermont bioligist worried.

more stories like this Epizootic Hemorrhagic Disease, which causes hemorrhaging around the heart and can be fatal to the animals, was found in upstate New York this week. Transmitted by small, biting insects called midges, the disease doesn't affect humans but is still cause for concern, according to Shawn Haskell, state deer project leader.

Vermont, which takes about 400 samples a year from deer, should prepare to monitor the spread of the disease, should it be found in Vermont, Haskell said.

"We need to come up with a protocol for our biologists and wardens to sample deer we believe may have succumbed to EHD," Haskell said. "We are going to have to look out for it."