Health Assessment of Adult Male Eastern Wild Turkeys ( Meleagris gallopavo silvestris ) from Western Kentucky, USA Ellen Haynes, 1,7 Michael J. Yabsley, 1,2,3 Nicole M. Nemeth, 1,4 Zachary D. Danks, 5 Iga Stasiak, 5,6 Kayla B. Garrett, 1,2 Kayla G. Adcock, 1 Michael J. Chamberlain, 2 and Mark G. Ruder 1 1 Southeastern Cooperative Wildlife Disease Study, University of Georgia College of Veterinary Medicine, 589 D. W. Brooks Drive, Athens, Georgia 30602, USA 2 Warnell School of Forestry and Natural Resources, University of Georgia, 180 East Green Street, Athens, Georgia 30602, USA 3 Center for Ecology of Infectious Diseases, University of Georgia, 203 D. W. Brooks Drive, Athens, Georgia 30602, USA 4 Department of Pathology, University of Georgia College of Veterinary Medicine, 501 D. W. Brooks Drive, Athens, Georgia 30602, USA 5 Kentucky Department of Fish and Wildlife Resources, 1 Sportsman ’ s Lane, Frankfort, Kentucky 40601, USA 6 Current address: Saskatchewan Ministry of Environment, 112 Research Drive, Saskatoon, Saskatchewan S7N 3R3, Canada 7 Corresponding author (email: ellen.haynes@uga.edu) ABSTRACT : Wild turkeys ( Meleagris gallopavo ) are an important game species throughout the geographic range. Populations throughout multiple regions of the US have been declining, including in Kentucky, US, raising concerns among managers and resource users. To better understand the overall population health, we performed postmortem examinations and targeted pathogen, mineral, and toxicant testing on 36 adult male, apparently healthy, wild turkeys that were hunter harvested in western Kentucky during April 2018. We found that birds were in fair to good nutritional condition with no significant gross or microscopic lesions. Ticks ( Amblyomma spp.) and lice (three species) were present on 94 and 31 % of birds, respectively. We commonly detected intestinal nematodes and cestodes and found coccidian oocysts in 39 % and capillarid eggs in 6 % of birds. The prevalences of lymphoproliferative disease virus and reticuloendotheliosis virus were 39 and 11 % , respectively. Spleen samples tested with PCR were positive for Borrelia burgdorferi , Haemoproteus sp., and Leucocytozoon sp. in 11, 83, and 3 % , respectively. Based on a subjective histologic assessment of testis tissues, most birds had widespread and abundant sperm present. Mineral analysis and broad toxicant screening on liver samples from 32 turkeys were unremarkable. Further work is needed to assess potential population risk factors and to determine individual- and population-level impacts of pathogens on adults and poults. Key words: Disease surveillance, Meleagris gallopavo silvestris , pathology, population health, wild turkeys. INTRODUCTION The health of eastern wild turkeys ( Meleagris gallopavo silvestris ) in the southeastern US has been of interest historically because wild turkeys are an important game species and can be infected with many of the same pathogens as domestic poultry (Hurst 1980; Hoffman et al. 1997; MacDonald, Jardine, Bowman, et al. 2019). To better understand the health of wild turkey populations, pathogens that can cause morbidity and mortality in wild turkeys or domestic poultry or both have been investi- gated through live animal surveillance and post- mortem testing (Noblet and Moore 1975; Castle and Christensen 1984; Davidson et al. 1985; Hopkins et al. 1990; Alger et al. 2017; MacDonald, Jardine, Rejman, et al. 2019, 2022). Pathogen surveillance efforts were conducted in the 1970s and 1980s in live and hunter-harvested animals in the US in Arkansas, Kentucky, South Caro- lina, and Tennessee to characterize the preva- lence of a variety of viruses and parasites (Noblet and Moore 1975; Castle and Chris- tensen 1984; Hopkins et al. 1990). A survey of 139 sick or dead wild turkeys from across the southeastern US examined between 1972 and 1984 at the Southeastern Cooperative Wildlife Disease Study (SCWDS) found that frequent diagnoses ( 10 % in the natural mor- tality group, n ¼ 108) included trauma, avian pox, and histomonosis, whereas less common diagnoses included malnutrition, coligranuloma- like condition, crop impaction, pododermatitis, 660 DOI: 10.7589/JWD-D-23-00162 Journal of Wildlife Diseases , 60(3), 2024, pp. 660–669 Ó Wildlife Disease Association 2024 Downloaded from https://jwd.kglmeridian.com at 2026-05-01 via University of Florida organophosphate toxicosis, infectious sinusitis, lymphoproliferative disease, salmonellosis, asper- gillosis, toxoplasmosis, crop trichomoniasis, and melorheostosis (Davidson et al. 1985). More recently, there has been increased concern regarding lymphoproliferative disease virus (LPDV) and reticuloendotheliosis virus (REV), two avian retroviruses that can cause neoplastic disease among wild turkeys (Niedringhaus et al. 2019; Stewart et al. 2019; Cox et al. 2022). Wild turkey populations throughout broad portions of the species’ range have experi- enced ongoing declines for several decades (Eriksen et al. 2015; Chamberlain et al. 2022), attributed at least partially to declines in repro- ductive success and recruitment (Byrne et al. 2015; Crawford et al. 2021). Likewise, eastern wild turkey populations in Kentucky appear to have declined in response to declining reproductive success, but the decline in abun- dance has been more recent than in other midwestern and southeastern states, and its magnitude has been variable among regions and counties within the state (Chamberlain et al. 2022; Danks et al. 2022). In 1978, the turkey population in Kentucky was estimated to be approximately 2,000 individuals, but following two decades of statewide restock- ing efforts, the population increased to more than 100,000 (Eriksen et al. 2015). Based on spring turkey harvest (7 % annual growth from 2000 to 2010; Z. Danks pers. comm.), turkey abundance continued to grow over the next decade before reaching a peak in 2010 (Danks 2022). Since then, tur- keys have remained relatively abundant in Kentucky (Eriksen et al. 2015; Chamberlain et al. 2022), but negative trends in harvest ( 1.3 to 1.7 % per year) and reproductive success ( 3 to 9 % per year) between 2010 and 2017 suggested population declines across all management regions (Danks 2022). Our objective was to understand baseline health parameters of hunter-harvested adult male eastern wild turkeys in Kentucky to investi- gate potential factors underlying ongoing pop- ulation declines. MATERIALS AND METHODS Thirty-six hunter-harvested, apparently healthy, eastern wild turkey carcasses were submitted to SCWDS by the Kentucky Department of Fish and Wildlife Resources (Frankfort, Kentucky, USA). Carcasses were adult males obtained at voluntary hunter check stations on 14–15 April 2018 during the spring turkey hunting season and were frozen until examination. Most birds ( n ¼ 30) were from Crittenden County ( n ¼ 17) and Livingston County ( n ¼ 13) in western Kentucky, where declining trends in harvest from 2010 to 2017 ( 4 % per year, respectively), and concerns voiced by turkey hunt- ers suggested a significant localized decline in tur- key abundance (Danks 2022). The remaining birds were collected opportunistically from four central Kentucky counties with few anecdotal reports of turkey population decline: Allen County ( n ¼ 2); Anderson County ( n ¼ 2); Pulaski County ( n ¼ 1); and Woodford County ( n ¼ 1; Fig. 1). Allen and Anderson had negative harvest trends similar to Crittenden and Livingston ( 4 % , respectively), whereas Pulaski and Woodford had stable to positive trends ( þ 1 % , respectively; Danks 2022). Where rele- vant, we reported results for birds in Crittenden and Livingston counties compared with Allen, Anderson, Woodford, and Pulaski counties, the latter four hereafter collectively referred to as “central Ken- tucky counties.” We performed a gross necropsy on each bird, including a subjective assessment of nutritional condition based on robustness of pectoral muscu- lature and fat deposition at common sites (i.e., subcutaneous, over the furcula, overlying caudal coelomic viscera, and around the heart). We col- lected ectoparasites and placed them in 70 % etha- nol for morphologic identification using published keys (Hoskins 1991; Price and Graham 1997; Keir- ans and Durden 1998; Price et al. 2003; Gustafsson and Zou 2020). We weighed the spleen and paired testicles for each bird to help establish baseline nor- mal ranges and assess potential splenomegaly asso- ciated with lymphoproliferative disease (Biggs et al. 1978). We calculated the percentage of body weight of the spleen for each animal and compared the value between animals with and without lym- phoproliferative disease (positive result for LPDV or REV or both) using a Wilcoxon rank sum test. We also compared the paired testicle weights between birds from Crittenden and Livingston counties compared with those from Allen, Anderson, HAYNES ET AL.—KENTUCKY WILD TURKEY HEALTH ASSESSMENT 661 Downloaded from https://jwd.kglmeridian.com at 2026-05-01 via University of Florida Woodford, and Pulaski counties using a Wilcoxon rank sum test. We collected selected tissue samples for histology, toxicology, and testing for select viruses, bacteria, and parasites. We placed sections of brain, heart, liver, lung, spleen, kidney, testicle, small intestine, and large intestine in 10 % neutral buffered forma- lin for histologic examination, and tissues were processed using standard methods. As part of the histologic examination of testicular tissue in 33 turkeys (testicular tissue was too autolyzed for this assessment in three turkeys), sperm production (including varied stages of sperm development) was subjectively assessed microscopically by a single observer (N.M.N.). Sperm quantities were categorized as abundant (thick, continuous band of sperm around all seminiferous tubules), moderate (band of sperm was approximately half the thickness of those categorized as abundant), or low (few sperm seen). We collected a sample of feces from each turkey and placed the sample in 70 % ethanol until analysis by routine centrifugal floatation in a modified Sheather solution (saturated sugar solution, specific gravity 1.27; Dryden et al. 2005). We collected a section of cecal wall for Histomonas spp. and Tetra- trichomonas spp. testing by PCR (Felleisen 1997). We collected bone marrow for REV testing by PCR (Adcock et al. 2024) and spleen samples for LPDV, Borrelia spp., Plasmodium spp., Haemoproteus spp., and Leucocytozoon spp. testing by PCR as described (Hellgren et al. 2004; Cleveland et al. 2020; Adcock et al. 2024). We collected the entire small and large intestines and screened them through a number 100 mesh screen into 70 % ethanol to assess intestinal helminths. We removed and weighed all cestodes; we quantified nematodes by homogenizing the washed material and counting all nematodes in an aliquot. Nema- tode counts per bird were compared between the two sets of counties by using a Wilcoxon rank sum test. All statistical analyses were performed using JMP Pro version 16.0.0 (SAS Institute Inc. 2021), with statistical significance assessed at a ¼ 0.05. We submitted liver samples from 32 birds to an accredited veterinary diagnostic toxicology lab at the California Animal Health and Food Safety Lab- oratory (CAHFS; University of California–Davis, Davis, California, USA) for a gas chromatography– mass spectrometry (GC-MS) toxicant screen and liver mineral analysis. The GC-MS screen is designed to potentially detect a large number of organic compounds belonging to diverse chemical classes, F IGURE 1. Map of Kentucky, USA, showing counties where wild turkey sampling was conducted. Counties in dark gray (Livingston and Crittenden) had negative trends in spring turkey harvest ( 4 % per year, respec- tively) and substantial hunter reports of turkey population decline, while counties in light gray (Allen, Ander- son, Pulaski, and Woodford) had various harvest trends ( 4 % per year in Allen and Anderson; þ 1 % year in Pulaski and Woodford) and few reports of turkey decline. Inset shows location of the state of Kentucky in North America. Map created using MapChart (https://www.mapchart.net/). 662 JOURNAL OF WILDLIFE DISEASES, VOL. 60, NO. 3, JULY 2024 Downloaded from https://jwd.kglmeridian.com at 2026-05-01 via University of Florida including pesticides, environmental contaminants, drugs, and natural products. Normal liver mineral ranges have not been established for wild turkeys, so we used reference liver mineral ranges for domestic poultry, as provided by the CAHFS toxi- cology service. RESULTS Necropsy Gross lesions were not evident in any of the wild turkeys, although macroparasites were observed occasionally (reported soon). All birds were deemed to be in fair to good nutritional condition. The mean body weight was 10.1 kg (median 10.3 kg; range 5.8–11.7 kg). We deter- mined spleen weight on a subset of birds ( n ¼ 27): mean spleen weight was 6.7 g (median 5.6 g; range 2.5–16.7 g). The percentage of body weight of the spleen was calculated for animals with both body weight and spleen weight available ( n ¼ 24): the overall mean was 0.06 % (median 0.05 % ; range 0.03–0.14 % ). There was a significant difference in percentage of body weight of the spleen between animals with and without positive results for LPDV, REV, or both, with positive animals having a higher percentage body weight (median 0.07 % ; range 0.04–0.14 % ), compared with negative animals (median 0.04 % ; range 0.03–0.07 % ; P ¼ 0.0014). Microscopic lesions were observed rarely and were considered incidental. The most commonly observed microscopic lesion was mild lympho- plasmacytic interstitial inflammation in the kidney (8/36, 22 % ), heart (7/36, 19 % ), and less commonly the interstitium of the testis (3/36, 8 % ). We rarely observed microscopic lesions at various levels of the gastrointestinal tract (4/36, 11 % ): these included fungal enteritis in one tur- key, chronic proventriculitis in two turkeys (associ- ated with a degenerated parasite in one case), and acute bacterial proventriculitis in one turkey. The mean combined testicle weight was 15.8 g (median 15.8 g; range 6.4–27.2 g). The mean combined testicle weight in animals from Living- ston and Crittenden counties was 16.1 g (median 15.9 g; range 7.6–22.0 g) and 14.8 g (median 14.0 g; range 6.4–27.2 g) in animals from central Kentucky counties. There was no significant difference in mean testicle weight between the two sets of counties (Wilcoxon rank sum test, P ¼ 0.1954). We deemed the sperm quantities to be abundant and present in all seminiferous tubules in 20 of 33 birds (61 % ), moderate in all seminiferous tubules in 9 of 33 (27 % ), and to moderate in most semi- niferous tubules in 4 of 33 turkeys (12 % ). Parasitology and microbiology We documented light to moderate burdens of ticks (all identified as Amblyomma ameri- canum ) on 34 of 36 (94 % ) birds; all were nymphs, with the exception of a single larva. Individual birds had between 1 and 27 nymphs. We recovered lice from 11 turkeys, including Chelopistes meleagridis (6/36, 17 % ), Menacan- thus stramineus (6/36, 17 % ), and a Valimia ( ¼ Oxylipeurus ) sp. (1/36, 3 % ). We observed Syngamus trachea (gapeworm) in the tracheal lumen of one turkey (1/36, 3 % ). Despite careful examination of cecal contents, we did not recover any Heterakis spp. from any bird. We recovered intestinal nematodes ( Asca- ridia spp.) from 32 of 36 turkeys (89 % ). Overall, the mean estimated count was 25.4 Ascaridia per bird, with 26.2 per bird in Livingston and Crittenden counties and 21.5 per bird in the central Kentucky counties. There was no signifi- cant difference in nematode counts between the two sets of counties (Wilcoxon rank sum test, P ¼ 0.1367). We identified intestinal ces- todes ( Raillietina spp. and Metroliasthes lucida ) in 35 of 36 birds (97 % ). Fecal floats for parasites indicated that 14 of 36 (39 % ) turkeys were posi- tive for Eimeria spp. oocysts, and 2 of 36 (6 % ) were positive for capillarid eggs. The overall prevalences of LPDV and REV were 39 and 11 % , respectively (Table 1). Although LPDV and REV are pathogens of wild turkeys, we did not observe any gross or microscopic lesions suggestive of neoplastic disease resulting from infection with either of these viruses. Two turkeys were positive for a Tetratri- chomonas sp. previously reported from intes- tinal tracts of turkeys (Lollis et al. 2011). We HAYNES ET AL.—KENTUCKY WILD TURKEY HEALTH ASSESSMENT 663 Downloaded from https://jwd.kglmeridian.com at 2026-05-01 via University of Florida did not observe cecal or intestinal lesions con- sistent with Histomonas sp. or Tetratrichomonas sp., even in birds that tested positive. Haemo- proteus sp. was detected in the spleen of 30 of 36 (83 % ) birds, and Leucocytozoon sp. was detected in 1 of 36 (3 % ) birds. Spleen samples from four turkeys (11 % ) were positive for Bor- relia burgdorferi Toxicology The GC-MS toxicant screen did not detect any toxic compounds in liver samples from the 32 tested turkeys (Table 2), and it did not detect lead, mercury, or arsenic. It did detect elevated liver iron concentrations ( 300 ppm) in 30 of 32 (94 % ) tested animals, while a few animals had values below the reference ranges for manganese, zinc, and copper (Table 2). DISCUSSION Overall, our findings suggest that the adult male wild turkeys we examined were in good health. Gross necropsy examinations revealed these harvested birds to be in good nutritional condition with no gross abnormalities detected. Further, histologic examination of these birds revealed no evidence of any significant underly- ing disease processes. Although all birds had variable burdens of intestinal parasites (i.e., coc- cidia, cestodes and nematodes) and hemopara- sites (i.e., Haemoproteus and Leucocytozoon spp.), based on the lack of microscopic evidence of corresponding disease, such as hemolysis or epithelial intestinal damage, these infections are probably not significant to the health of adult birds. Haemoproteus meleagridis and Leuco- cytozoon smithi are blood parasites commonly detected in wild turkeys, and previous studies have only identified these parasites based on morphology, so there are no genetic sequences available for comparison (Noblet and Moore 1975; Castle and Christensen 1984; Hopkins et al. 1990). Both parasites have infrequently caused mortality of wild turkeys in the south- eastern US (Atkinson and Forrester 1987). Future work is needed to combine identifica- tion of the parasites to morphologic species via blood smear analysis with sequence analysis; however, no other Haemoproteus or Leucocyto- zoon spp. have been reported from wild turkeys (Noblet and Moore 1975; Atkinson and Forres- ter 1987; Hopkins et al. 1990; Fedynich and Rhodes 1995). No relapsing fever Borrelia spp. were detected, in contrast to a study in Tennes- see (Scott et al. 2010), but the low prevalence of B. burgdorferi was similar to a recent study in Pennsylvania, US (16 % ; Cleveland et al. 2020). The prevalences and burdens of nematode and cestode infections observed in this study are commonly encountered in wild turkeys and are not considered significant (Castle and Christensen 1984; Nemeth and Yabsley 2021). All detected parasites in our study are com- monly reported in wild turkeys, and although they are rarely associated with disease in adult birds, there is a need to better understand the pathogenic potential and impact of these para- sites in poults. T ABLE 1. Prevalence of selected pathogens in 36 hunter-harvested eastern wild turkeys ( Meleagris gallopavo silvestris ) from Kentucky, USA, in 2018. Pathogen Turkeys from Crittenden and Livingston counties ( n ¼ 30) Turkeys from central Kentucky counties ( n ¼ 6) Overall Borrelia burgdorferi 4/30 (13 % ) 0/6 (0 % ) 4/36 (11 % ) Lymphoproliferative disease virus 12/30 (40 % ) 2/6 (33 % ) 14/36 (39 % ) Reticuloendotheliosis virus 4/30 (13 % ) 0/6 (0 % ) 4/36 (11 % ) Histomonas or Tetratrichomonas spp. a 2/30 (7 % ) 0/6 (0 % ) 3/36 (8 % ) Haemoproteus sp. 26/30 (87 % ) 4/6 (67 % ) 30/36 (83 % ) Leucocytozoon sp. 1/30 (3 % ) 0/6 (0 % ) 1/36 (3 % ) a Two turkeys were confirmed to have a Tetratrichomonas sp. infection through nucleotide sequencing. 664 JOURNAL OF WILDLIFE DISEASES, VOL. 60, NO. 3, JULY 2024 Downloaded from https://jwd.kglmeridian.com at 2026-05-01 via University of Florida All birds were tested for Histomonas spp. and Tetratrichomonas spp., but the prevalence was very low. A Tetratrichomonas sp. that is related to Tetratrichomonas gallinarum was detected in two birds but was not associated with lesions. Although this Tetratrichomonas sp. has only been reported in the literature once from several domestic turkeys, diagnosed with histomonosis based on gross or microscopic lesions, from North Carolina, US, SCWDS has also diagnosed this parasite in several cases of wild turkeys with classic histomonosis lesions (Lollis et al. 2011; N. Nemeth pers. comm.). Little is known about the natural history and pathogenesis of this Tetratrichomonas sp.; how- ever, the closely related species T. gallinarum is often detected in turkeys without clinical disease and also can be associated with hepatic and intestinal lesions (Amin et al. 2011; Adcock et al. 2024). Neither Histomonas meleagridis nor Het- erakis gallinarum were detected in any bird. His- tomonas meleagridis is the causative agent of blackhead disease and is transmitted in the eggs of the nematode H. gallinarum (Beer et al. 2022). Although diagnosed relatively infre- quently, histomonosis is considered an important disease of wild turkeys (Hurst 1980). Previous work in Kentucky found 15 % prevalence of H. gallinarum in wild turkeys, with a mean intensity of 56 worms (Castle and Christensen 1984). However, more research is needed on this para- site because a recent study in Pennsylvania iden- tified a Heterakis sp. from wild turkeys that was morphologically similar to H. gallinarum , but genetically distinct, and grouped with Heterakis isolonche from ruffed grouse ( Bonasa umbellus ; Greenawalt et al. 2020). We did not observe any gross or micro- scopic lesions associated with LPDV or REV infection. Spleen weight as a percentage of body weight was higher for birds that tested positive for one or both of these viruses; this is consistent with previous findings that spleno- megaly is associated with these infections in domestic poultry (Tao et al. 2000). Spleen weight previously has not been investigated in wild turkeys, but studies in commercial poultry have estimated the percentage weight of the spleen as 0.06 % in male roasting turkeys (Marsden 1940) and 1.11 6 0.06 % (mean 6 SE) in male 9-wk-old randomly bred domestic tur- keys (Li et al. 2001). Both LPDV and REV are commonly detected in apparently healthy wild turkeys but can be associated with neoplastic disease in adult wild turkeys (Biggs et al. 1978; Nair et al. 2020). Among 851 wild turkey cases submitted to SCWDS from 1975 to 2017, neo- plastic lesions were diagnosed in 58 (8 % ) indi- viduals; of these 58 cases, lesions were attributed to LPDV in 34 (59 % ) and REV in 10 (17 % ; Nie- dringhaus et al. 2019). Because most wild turkey diagnostic case submissions to SCWDS are adults, the potential impact on poults is unknown and remains an important research direction. Further, little is known about the potential popu- lation impacts of these retroviruses. The testis weights of the birds examined in this study were similar to those previously reported for adult wild turkeys from Missouri, US (mean 13.86 g; range 7.10–34.32 g; Lewis and Breitenbach 1966). Lewis and Breiten- bach (1966) also examined histologic sections of testis to assess the abundance of sperm in the seminiferous tubules and suggested that the presence of free sperm in the testis tubules indi- cates a high probability of breeding capability. This approach for evaluation of spermatogenesis has also been used in Rio Grande turkeys from Texas (Davis 1994). In our study, the similarity of paired testis weights between the two sets of counties and the finding of abundant and wide- spread sperm in the seminiferous tubules of most animals evaluated suggest that they were reproductively capable. Therefore, based on the data that we collected, reduced male breeding capacity appears unlikely to be responsible for the observed population declines. Future work should assess additional aspects of sperm health, such as morphology and motility, and evaluate female breeding capacity and nesting success. Although the broad toxicant screen and liver mineral analysis revealed no evidence of organic chemical toxicant exposure or heavy metal intoxication in these birds, this does not rule out the possibility of morbidity or mortality associ- ated with toxicant exposure in wild turkeys from HAYNES ET AL.—KENTUCKY WILD TURKEY HEALTH ASSESSMENT 665 Downloaded from https://jwd.kglmeridian.com at 2026-05-01 via University of Florida T ABLE 2. Gas chromatography-mass spectrometry (GC-MS) and liver mineral analysis results for 32 eastern wild turkeys ( Meleagris gallopavo silvestris ) collected from Kentucky, USA, in 2018. a Bird ID County GC-MS screen Lead (ppm) Manganese (ppm) Iron (ppm) Mercury (ppm) Arsenic (ppm) Molybdenum (ppm) Zinc (ppm) Copper (ppm) Cadmium (ppm) Rep limit 1 Rep limit 0.1 Rep limit 1.0 Rep limit 1.0 Rep limit 1.0 Rep limit 0.4 Rep limit 0.3 Rep limit 0.3 Rep limit 0.3 Ref range , 1.0 Ref range 2.0–4.0 Ref range 60–300 Ref range , 1.0 Ref range , 1.0 — Ref range 25–40 Ref range 3–15 Ref range , 5 3036 Livingston Neg ND 2.1 570 ND ND 1.1 28 3.8 ND 3037 Crittenden Neg ND 3.1 590 ND ND 1.1 29 4.6 ND 3039 Livingston Neg ND 1.8 360 ND ND 0.73 22 2.9 ND 3040 Livingston Neg ND 1.6 530 ND ND 0.84 22 2.8 0.3 3041 Crittenden Neg ND 3 540 ND ND 0.91 30 4.1 0.44 3042 Crittenden Neg ND 2.7 570 ND ND 0.95 27 4.1 0.59 3043 Crittenden Neg ND 2.5 310 ND ND 1 30 3.9 0.32 3044 Livingston Neg ND 2.6 580 ND ND 1.1 33 3.9 0.32 3045 Crittenden Neg ND 1.9 400 ND ND 0.87 24 3.4 0.3 3046 Crittenden Neg ND 1.6 890 ND ND 1.1 28 2.5 ND 3047 Crittenden Neg ND 1.9 710 ND ND 0.99 25 3.2 ND 3048 Crittenden Neg ND 2 430 ND ND 0.71 21 2.7 ND 3049 Crittenden Neg ND 1.6 590 ND ND 0.9 26 3.5 ND 3313 Crittenden Neg ND 1.2 320 ND ND 0.62 19 2.2 0.34 3314 Livingston Neg ND 2.1 230 ND ND 0.57 24 3.2 0.72 3315 Crittenden Neg ND 4 310 ND ND 0.9 29 4 0.31 3316 Livingston Neg ND 3.1 310 ND ND 0.83 24 3.2 0.45 3317 Livingston Neg ND 4.3 730 ND ND 0.85 32 4.1 ND 3318 Livingston Neg ND 3.2 470 ND ND 1.2 30 5.2 ND 3319 Livingston Neg ND 2.2 800 ND ND 1.4 26 4.2 ND 3320 Crittenden Neg ND 1.8 490 ND ND 0.82 25 3.3 ND 3322 Crittenden Neg ND 2.6 630 ND ND 0.99 28 3.6 ND 3323 Livingston Neg ND 1.8 640 ND ND 0.81 22 3.3 ND 3324 Crittenden Neg ND 2 580 ND ND 1 28 3.5 ND 3325 Livingston Neg ND 1.2 350 ND ND 0.56 21 2.7 ND 666 JOURNAL OF WILDLIFE DISEASES, VOL. 60, NO. 3, JULY 2024 Downloaded from https://jwd.kglmeridian.com at 2026-05-01 via University of Florida Kentucky. Further, the use of liver mineral ranges for domestic poultry may not be appro- priate for wild turkeys, so additional work is needed to establish normal reference ranges for this species. Regardless, elevated liver iron con- centrations were detected in nearly all tested tur- keys; this may result from vascular congestion, hemolysis, overexposure to iron, iron stor- age abnormalities, or starvation or fasting (Cork 2000). It is possible that high loads of blood parasites in these birds resulted in hemolysis and elevated iron liver concentra- tions, but no gross evidence of hemolysis was observed, so additional work is needed to con- firm this association. Overall, our diagnostic survey of hunter- harvested adult male wild turkeys in Kentucky did not identify any potential explanations for reported local population declines. Although results are reported separately for birds from the population of concern and birds from the central Kentucky counties, given the drastic difference in sampling effort, this comparison should be interpreted with caution. Furthermore, the study is limited by the absence of female and juvenile birds. Previous studies have found differ- ences in the prevalence of LPDV infection by age and sex (Alger et al. 2017; MacDonald, Jardine, Bowman, et al. 2019; Niedringhaus et al. 2019; Shea et al. 2022), while another study testing sick and dead birds did not find that these factors were significant in predicting LPDV and REV prevalence (Adcock et al. 2024), so additional work is needed to further investigate demo- graphic trends. Importantly, the birds in our study were all presumably healthy hunter-harvested birds; therefore, the need to investigate sick and dead wild turkeys through submission of fresh carcasses for diagnostic evaluation cannot be over- emphasized. This is especially true for poults. Over recent decades, SCWDS has examined hundreds of adult wild turkeys but few poults. The significance of cause-specific mortality factors among wild turkeys may vary between age classes; thus, opportunistic or targeted study of poults in the region is warranted. Finally, this study only evaluated birds collected over a short time period, and there may be seasonal variation in some of T ABLE 2 Continued. Bird ID County GC-MS screen Lead (ppm) Manganese (ppm) Iron (ppm) Mercury (ppm) Arsenic (ppm) Molybdenum (ppm) Zinc (ppm) Copper (ppm) Cadmium (ppm) Rep limit 1 Rep limit 0.1 Rep limit 1.0 Rep limit 1.0 Rep limit 1.0 Rep limit 0.4 Rep limit 0.3 Rep limit 0.3 Rep limit 0.3 Ref range , 1.0 Ref range 2.0–4.0 Ref range 60–300 Ref range , 1.0 Ref range , 1.0 — Ref range 25–40 Ref range 3–15 Ref range , 5 3327 Crittenden Neg ND 2.8 460 ND ND 0.83 24 3 ND 3328 Livingston Neg ND 2.7 650 ND ND 1.1 34 6.6 ND 4033 Allen Neg ND 2.5 620 ND ND 0.61 28 3.4 ND 4034 Allen Neg ND 2.3 290 ND ND 0.85 23 4 ND 4036 Anderson Neg ND 2 380 ND ND 0.98 26 3.6 ND 4048 Woodford Neg ND 2.5 1000 ND ND 1.7 44 5.1 0.32 4001 Pulaski Neg ND 2.9 790 ND ND 1.3 29 4 ND a GC-MS organic chemical screen is designed to detect a large number of organic compounds belonging to diverse chemical classes (pesticides, environmental contaminants, drugs, and natural products). Rep limit ¼ minimum reporting limit; ref range ¼ normal reference range based on domestic poultry; neg ¼ no compounds detected; ND ¼ not detected. HAYNES ET AL.—KENTUCKY WILD TURKEY HEALTH ASSESSMENT 667 Downloaded from https://jwd.kglmeridian.com at 2026-05-01 via University of Florida the factors investigated, including the presence of pathogens, presence of clinical disease, and size of visceral organs. Future studies are recom- mended to evaluate birds of different ages and sexes collected at various times throughout the year and with larger sample sizes to further investigate causes of local wild turkey popu- lation declines. ACKNOWLEDGMENTS We appreciate the support of turkey hunters who donated birds for this investigation. We thank P. Sharp, J. Zimmer, M. Young, R. Gray, K. Tucker, W. McFaddin, K. Knight, R. Conway, E. Ethington, A. Black, S. Beam, and D. Figert for assistance with data collection. Partial funding for this project was provided by the Kentucky Depart- ment of Fish and Wildlife Resources via hunting license sales. Additional funding support was pro- vided by the Southeastern Cooperative Wildlife Disease Study member state wildlife agencies in Alabama, Arkansas, Florida, Georgia, Kansas, Loui- siana, Maryland, Mississippi, Missouri, Nebraska, North Carolina, Oklahoma, South Carolina, Ten- nessee, Virginia, and West Virginia, US, through the Federal Aid to Wildlife Restoration Act (50 Statute 917), and through long-term support by the US Fish and Wildlife Service National Wildlife Refuge System and the US Geological Survey Ecosystems Mission Area. We thank Dr. Robert Poppenga at the University of California–Davis and staff at the California Animal Health and Safety Laboratory for technical expertise and toxicologic testing. Finally, M. Willis, J. Wlodkowski, L. Swanepoel, C. Cleve- land, and S. White provided laboratory support. 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