Key Deer

This deer family was identified as having chronic wasting disease in its early stage New York State

Hunters to help keep 'zombie deer disease' from reaching Florida by donating animal's heads

Tom Bayles

To prevent a fatal disease in Florida white-tailed deer, state wildlife managers are asking hunters in Collier, Lee, DeSoto, and Hendry counties to donate the heads of deer they have killed for testing.

Key deer live only in the Lower Keys and have been on the Endangered Species List since 1967.

Keys Crowd Says Keep Key Deer On Endangered Species List

Nancy Klingener

U.S. Fish & Wildlife officials Thursday evening faced a crowd of Keys residents strongly opposed to removing the Key deer from the Endangered...

Key deer only live on a few islands of the Lower Florida Keys.

Key Deer Considered For Removal From Endangered Species List

Nancy Klingener

The federal government is considering removing the iconic Key deer from the Endangered Species List.

The world's only population of Key deer lives on the Lower Florida Keys. In recent years, the herd has dealt with a deadly screwworm outbreak and a Category 4 hurricane.

Feds Quietly Reconsider Protected Status For Endangered Key Deer

Jenny Staletovich

The last couple of years have not been kind to the endangered Key deer. A grisly, flesh-eating screwworm infected the planet’s only herd in the Lower...

Post-storm surveys of the Key deer herd found most of the deer were out and about, doing what they normally do.

Key Deer Prove Resilient Through Hurricane Irma

Nancy Klingener

The endangered Key deer herd was already coming out of a tough year — the herd lost more than 100 animals to New World screwworm. So when the eye of...

Since Hurricane Irma, residents have helped tend to endangered Key deer, shown here in October 2016 after an outbreak of Old World screwworm. Federal wildlife officials, however, warn that feeding the deer can harm them.

Please Stop Feeding The Key Deer. Wildlife Managers Say It Hurts, Not Helps

Jenny Staletovich

Federal wildlife managers in the Florida Keys have a message for residents: Please stop feeding the endangered deer. Since Irma washed over Cudjoe Key...

A Key deer doe scampers away after being fitted with a radio collar.

Key Deer Collared For Fawning Season

Nancy Klingener

Thirty female Key deer are now wearing radio collars so biologists can track them during fawning season. The deer will be watched closely because does...

Reporter Tracks Invasive Screwworm From Keys to Mainland

Matthew F Smith

For the first time in 30 years, the invasive New World Screwworm has been reported in the Florida Keys. The bug and its flesh-eating larvae have been…

Florida Agriculture Commissioner Adam Putnam helps clean out a sterile screwworm fly release site in the Keys.

Flesh-Eating Screwworm Moves From The Keys To Mainland

Nancy Klingener

A stray dog in Homestead was infested with screwworm, the invasive pest that is hated and feared by the agriculture industry, state officials said...

Katrina Marklevits of the U.S. Fish & Wildlife Service treats Key deer with anti-parasitic medicine to protect them from screwworm.

Saving Key Deer Means New Relationships With Wild Animals

Nancy Klingener

People in the Keys have been living alongside Key deer for a long time. And for ages, wildlife officials have implored people: Don't feed the deer.