2 Dead Birds Confirm West Nile in County
Lake Country Reporter
29 June 2006
The Veterinary Diagnostics Laboratory in Madison reported June 27 that two birds in Waukesha County tested positive for West Nile virus.
A crow from the City of Pewaukee and a blue jay in the Town of Summit each tested positive for the virus.As the virus has spread across the country, the first animals infected have usually been birds. The Waukesha County Department of Parks and Land Use works in cooperation with the Wisconsin Department of Natural Resources and the Wisconsin Division of Public Health to report and collect dead crow, raven and bluejay specimens.
Because these identifications have confirmed the presence of the West Nile virus in Waukesha County, the state will no longer test crows, ravens or bluejays from Waukesha County in 2006. The Waukesha County Division of Environmental Health will continue to map reports of sick or dead crows, ravens and bluejays in Waukesha County and post this information on the Waukesha County Web site. To report a sick or dead crow, raven or bluejay in Waukesha County, call the USDA Wildlife Service dead bird hotline at (800) 433-1610.
This virus is spread by the bite of a mosquito infected with the West Nile virus. Mosquitoes get infected by feeding on infected birds. Many people bitten by infected mosquitoes will not become infected at all. Of those who do become infected, the vast majority will have no symptoms or will experience only a mild illness that may include headache, muscle aches, rash, swollen lymph nodes and fever.
Will County Finds a 2nd Rabid Bat
Chicago Tribune
29 June 2006
Tom Rybarczyk
The creature looked no bigger than a mouse, but its bite sent 87-year-old Orville Hires to the hospital for the night.
The Peotone man thought a baby bird fell from his tall white pine Saturday evening and he hoped to shield it from his miniature Schnauzer, which has a history of being too rough with fowl.
Instead, Hires wound up with his finger in the clenched jaws of a rabid bat. It was the second bat to test positive for rabies this month in Will County, prompting animal control and public health officials to issue a warning to residents. "I thought it was a bird without feathers," Hires said. "He bit me before I could even pick it up. I hit that thing, but he didn't want to let go.
"It's like when you get a sharp bite--it stings a little bit," he said. "That thing bit hard. ... Then I clubbed it, and it finally got off. And then I took a stick and batted it." After Hires got the bat off his finger, officials said he made a wise decision--to head straight to the hospital for rabies shots.
"I guess the scary thing to me here is a lot of people might not be aware that you can get rabies from bats," said Dr. Lee Schild, Will County Animal Control administrator. "There is a problem out there ... and it does pose a real threat.
"Finding two rabid bats over a comparatively short period of time could be indicative of a trend," Schild said, adding that the potential for rabies transmission from wild animals to humans is especially a concern during spring and summer.
Menhaden is a Small, but Important Fish
roanoke.com
29 June 2006
Ken Hinman and John Bello
Hinman is the president of the National Coalition for Marine Conservation, based in Leesburg. Bello is the chairman of the Coastal Conservational Association Virginia, an alliance of recreational fishermen. Trophy season on the Chesapeake Bay's renowned striped bass drew to a close this month, but the future of sport fishing in Virginia may depend on another, less well-known fish -- and Gov. Tim Kaine. The governor has a July 1 deadline to protect the tiny fish that feeds some of the bay's most prized gamefish, thereby supporting a $236 million industry and boundless recreational activity.
Many fishermen know of menhaden only as bait, while most other Virginians probably don't know of it at all. But scientists call the small, oily fish one of the most important in the sea, because stripers, bluefish and numerous other fish depend on menhaden for their survival, as do many sea birds and marine mammals.
Menhaden are also noted for what they eat. By consuming excess plankton, menhaden purify the Chesapeake Bay and prevent the nutrient buildup that can lead to "dead zones" unfit for marine life. But menhaden numbers in the Chesapeake Bay are down, approaching historic lows. The number of young menhaden -- prime forage size for striped bass, which rely on them for a major part of their diet -- has been declining for more than a decade.
Although menhaden are found all along the East Coast, about three-quarters of the fish caught are taken from Chesapeake Bay. While some are netted for bait, most are caught by an industrial fishery that "reduces" the fish into fishmeal to feed farm animals and extracts its oils for dietary supplements. Omega Protein, a Texas-based company operating out of Reedville, is responsible for all of the reduction in the bay and up to 90 percent of the catch coastwide.
With menhaden's role in the food web diminishing, scientists have raised red flags about far-reaching impacts on the bay's predators. More than half the stripers sampled in the Chesapeake -- many of them underweight -- were found to suffer from mycobacteriosis, a potentially fatal disease most common in overstressed or malnourished fish.
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