Who we are:
We are a collaborative group of scientists at the University of Florida Cervidae Health Research Initiative, or CHeRI for short, working together to tackle problems that affect cervids: members of the deer family, like white-tailed deer and elk. This initiative seeks to promote interdisciplinary science, education and outreach that increases the health and production of captive cervids in a sustainable manner and promotes the health of native wildlife and the ecosystems in which they live.
Our stakeholders in the deer farm industry have identified hemorrhagic disease as the primary threat to economic success in Florida. More information on hemorrhagic disease and the viruses that cause this disease in deer can be found on our Hemorrhagic Disease Diagnostics page. While reducing morbidity and mortality of captive deer from HD is our primary goal, we seek to maintain a diverse portfolio of projects to improve the health of cervids in Florida.
CHeRI Strategic Plan:
In order to guide our research and extension priorities for the next 5 years of CHeRI, we have established Strategic Plans to provide a roadmap to our mission.
News and Upcoming Events
- January-April, 2026: While CHeRI hasn't had many HD submissions, we've been busy with annual meetings around the country and the world- we had our annual CHeRI Researcher Retreat in St. Petersburg, International Deer Biology Congress in New Zealand, Reindeer Farmers Association Annual Meeting in New York, North Florida Outdoor Expo in Micanopy, SeTDA Spring Fling in Orlando, and the North American Deer Farmers Association Annual Meeting in Ohio.
- January 13, 2026: Our brand new CHeRI Dashboard Map is live! We made it more user friendly and have embedded it directly into the website below.
- 2025: A second case of CWD was detected in Holmes County in October, 2025. The road-killed doe was found less than a mile from the first detection in 2023. Luckily, the positive animal was close enough to the first positive case that there will be no change in the surveillance or quarantine zones. We have created a number of resources in our Additional Resources page.
We have a new and improved Interactive Hemorrhagic Disease Dashboard Map! We update this map and case numbers in real-time using submissions from across Florida. You can use the map to explore trends in HD in submitted Florida captive cervids.
To access our dashboard map please visit our social media linked down below.
Follow us on social media and stay connected!
- Facebook: UF IFAS Cervidae Health Research Initiative
- X: @UF_IFAS_CHeRI
- Bluesky: @ufifas-cheri.bsky.social