Observations on the endoparasites of sika deer (Cervus nippon) kept in captivity (deer farms and parks) in Germany.

Sika deer, primarily animals of Japanese origin, have been introduced into Europe and, following release into the wild, established free-ranging populations in several countries, including Germany. In addition to the wild populations, sika deer are still maintained in deer parks and there are also deer farms carrying sika deer for venison production. However, to date there is no information about the parasite fauna that infect farmed sika deer and only little knowledge on parasites of sika deer in parks. This work summarizes the results of the examination for endoparasites of viscera and muscle samples of 33 sika deer from five farms and 11 sika deer from five parks in Germany. Eight species of nematodes (Ostertagia leptospicularis, Spiculopteragia asymmetrica, Spiculopteragia boehmi, Spiculopteragia houdemeri, Trichostrongylus askivali, Oesophagostomum sikae, Oesophagostomum venulosum, Trichuris globulosa) and one species of coccidia (Eimeria austriaca) were isolated from the gastrointestinal tract. Sarcocystis cysts were identified in cardiac and/or diaphragm myocytes of 6/11 park deer while no cysts were detected in heart and/or diaphragm samples from 24 farmed deer. No cestodes, lungworms, liver flukes and rumen flukes were found. The nematode community was dominated by the polymorphic ostertagids residing in the abomasum, but the total burden (adults plus mucosal larval stages) was overall very low with geometric mean counts of 62 and 117 in the farmed deer (range, 0 to 2340) and park deer (range, 26 to 629), respectively. Spiculopteragia houdemeri, index ostertagid of sika deer of Japanese origin, made more than 80 % of the total nematode burden in both farmed and park sika deer.