The disease affects the central nervous system and animals can show signs of drastic weight loss, lack of coordination and listlessness. It can make them more aggressive and less afraid of human contact, the center says. Some describe the disease as turning the animals into “zombie deer.”
It’s in the same family of disease as Creutzfeldt-Jakob disease, which the CDC describes as “a rapidly progressive, invariably fatal neurodegenerative disorder.”
The center says scientists believe the contagious disease is passed between animals through bodily fluids.
