Abstract Cervids are known to be reservoir of zoonotic tick-transmitted bacteria. The aim of this study was to perform a survey in a wild fauna reserve to characterize Anaplasma species carried by captive red deer and swamp deer. Blood from 59 red deer and 7 swamp deer was collected and analyzed over a period of two years. A semi-nested PCR that targets the 23S rRNA was performed to detect and characterise Anaplasma spp. and determine zoonotic species presence. Anaplasma phagocytophilum was identified in 14/59 deer (23.7%) but not in swamp deer. Few sequences could not be assigned to any particular species based on the 23S rRNA sequences. Nested PCR targeting 16S rRNA, gltA and groEL genes and sequencing analysis detected a recently reported zoonotic species, Anaplasma capra in red deer as well as in swamp deer. This is the first reporting of the tick-borne zoonotic bacterium A. capra in France, a species otherwise described only in China and Japan, in goats, sheep, deer and japanese serows. Even if this bacterium may have been introduced in the Park with infected imported animals, its local epidemiological cycle through tick transmission seems possible as locally born deer were found infected. Diagnostic methods, especially molecular ones, should take into account the potential infection of animals and humans with this species.