Game and Furbearer Program Summary Report – 2025
Game and Furbearer Program Summary Report – 2025
Monitoring Wildlife Health in North Carolina
Highly Pathogenic Avian Influenza Surveillance
DESCRIPTION: To increase our understanding of diseases in wildlife, we routinely submit sick wild animals as reported by the public to the Southeastern Cooperative Wildlife Disease Study (SCWDS) for evaluation and diagnoses. We also cooperate with multiple academic and laboratory partners by contributing samples to a variety of wildlife health-related research projects.
DESCRIPTION: During 2024-25, the NCWRC continued its statewide Highly Pathogenic Avian Influenza (HPAI) surveillance. We partnered with a variety of state and federal agencies, including the USDA, to accomplish HPAI testing while also communi- cating with the public about HPAI in wild birds.
KEY RESULTS: • Seventy-eight new HPAI positive birds of 19 different species were confirmed, predominantly waterfowl species. Our sampling aligns with nationwide findings showing that waterfowl, raptors, and shorebirds continue to contribute the most HPAI detections. • Over the last three years, a total of 32 of our 100 counties have confirmed positive detections from the mountains to the coast. • No new cases of HPAI in wild mammals were found, leaving the singular black bear detection in 2023 as North Carolina’s only wild mammal case to date.
KEY RESULTS: • Staff submitted 80 specimens in 2024. Necropsy reports were returned for 32 different species, including 15 white-tailed deer, 8 black bears, 7 raccoons, and 6 Chimney Swifts. Based on these submissions, the main causes of death included trauma, canine distemper virus (CDV), and highly pathogenic avian influenza (HPAI). Samples from six black bears were also submitted for the SCWDS multi-species mange surveillance project. The NCWRC has recently committed to expanding our participation in this project. • During the 2024-25 CWD surveillance season, staff collected 23,795 CWD samples from white-tailed deer. Ten new CWD-pos- itive detections were documented, all of which were from counties already known to have CWD. One deer was the youngest positive deer found in the state so far, a doe aged at 0.5 years old. The Cervid Health Cooperator (CHC) Program provided 83% (19,717) of the samples collected and was responsible for finding 70% (7) of the new CWD positive deer documented this sea- son. Additional information is available at https://www.ncwildlife.org/connect/have-wildlife-problem/common-wildlife-diseases/ deer-diseases/chronic-wasting-disease
HPAI Cases per Year in NC
HPAI Detections in NC Wild Birds in FY 2024-25
250
200
150
100
50
0
passerine raptor
shorebird waterfowl
2021
2022
2023
2024
2025
HOW IS THIS INFORMATION USED FOR REGU- LATIONS AND MANAGEMENT: By working closely with SCWDS and other diagnostic laboratories, the day-to-day wildlife disease questions posed by the public can be answered while also continuing to build on the knowledge critical for understanding and man- aging long-term disease impacts in native wildlife. Chronic Wasting Disease surveillance information is directly used to develop appropriate deer hunting reg- ulations and the CHC program is an excellent way to involve the public in our disease surveillance efforts. Finding only 10 new CWD positive deer out of 23,795 deer sampled indicates that North Carolina likely still has a very low percentage of deer with CWD. However, the discovery of a positive 0.5-year-old doe for the first time is a concerning sign of vertical transmission (i.e. mother to offspring) of CWD within the deer herd.
CHRIS TURNER/NCWRC Sick turkey in Chowan County yard. A necropsy demonstrated likely poisoning from ingesting too many Nandina bush berries at a residence.
LINDSAY ADDISON/NC AUDUBON SOCIETY
HUNTER MORRIS/NCWRC
Brown pelican trapping with HPAI disease samples taken.
Wood duck trapping with HPAI disease samples taken.
HOW IS THIS INFORMATION USED FOR REGULATIONS AND MANAGEMENT: Continued HPAI surveillance and monitor- ing contributes to our understanding of the status of the disease in North Carolina. Accurate information is critical for continuing to answer questions from the public regarding the status of some wildlife populations, human health concerns, and the long-term out- look of this disease. The annual number of HPAI cases seen in wildlife varies on the local scale. This is likely dependent on the larg- er-scale variability in the number of animals that have developed antibodies that make them resistant to the virus as well as variable transmission rates from year to year during the fall and spring bird migratory seasons. Research continues to show increased pres- ence of HPAI antibodies in wild avian species, indicating that birds are now overall developing some resistance to the HPAI virus. At the local scale, certain bird populations may still not have high immunity, allowing local disease events to occur.
Emaciated white- tailed deer with scouring (severe diarrhea) found in a flower bed, Per- quimans County.
CHRIS TURNER/NCWRC
22
23
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