A dead deer is seen in a potato field near Grand Forks, B.C., in a Friday, Sept. 19, 2025, handout photo. Samples have been collected to try and figure out what killed at least 30 deer in and around the area in the last two weeks. THE CANADIAN PRESS/Handout — Brad Siemens (Mandatory Credit)

Samples have been collected to try and figure out what has killed at least 30 deer over the last two weeks in and around Grand Forks, B.C.

Jeff Gailey, president of the Grand Forks Wildlife Association, said he won't speculate on the cause, but the samples will be tested for bluetongue and epizootic hemorrhagic disease, which killed a large number of California bighorn sheep in the region in 2021.

Gailey said reports of the dead deer have been made to the province, the town and the association, or to him directly.

"They're not emaciated or anything like that. They look perfectly normal. Last night, we found a fawn that somebody had phoned us about that had white bubble discharge coming out of its nose and blood coming out of its rectum," he said in an interview on Tuesday.

He said the local veterinarian is not able to do the testing, so the samples will be sent to the provincial lab in Abbotsford on Wednesday and there won't be new information for "a few days."

The uncertainty has people in the community on edge, he said, but the deaths don't appear to be caused by chronic wasting disease, a different fatal illness that was discovered in B.C. for the first time last year.

"As much as I'm a hunter, I still am a conservationist, in that I love the animals and try to do what we can do to help them survive. So, to see animals dropping dead and not knowing why, it is heartbreaking, and most of the community feels the same way," he said.

He said the 2021 outbreak was devastating.

"We lost three-quarters of our California bighorn sheep herd. I can't even imagine how many deer we lost back then. I don't think anybody even kept track of it, but it was devastating to our population of deer and the sheep," he said.

The provincial government website describes EHD and bluetongue as similar hemorrhagic diseases where viruses cause sudden death.

"Hemorrhage and lack of oxygen in the blood result in a blue appearance of the oral mucosa, hence the name 'bluetongue,'" the website says.

"Between eight and 36 hours following the onset of signs, animals usually go into shock, collapse and die," the website says.

The Canadian Food Inspection Agency says on its website that bluetongue is transmitted from animal to animal by a type of biting midge.

"In Canada, the presence of the virus is usually restricted to late summer and early fall, since conditions must be warm enough for the bluetongue virus to multiply within the midge. Midge activity ceases with the first hard frost. There is no evidence that bluetongue can survive winter in Canada," it says.

"The virus does not survive in the environment outside a midge or its animal host. It cannot be spread through contact with animal carcasses and products such as meat and wool."

The agency says there have been occurrences of bluetongue in the Okanagan Valley in the last 40 years, which are believed to be the result of wind-borne introduction of infected midges from the United States.

In September 2015, bluetongue was confirmed in southwestern Ontario.

This report by The Canadian Press was first published Sept. 23, 2025.

News from © The Canadian Press, 2025