Chemicals Harming Polar Bears, Belugas, Seals: WWF
Reuters
14 June 2006
Toxic chemicals are harming Arctic animals including polar bears, beluga whales, seals and seabirds, the environmental group WWF said on Thursday.
It said pollutants such as flame retardants, pesticides and fluorinated chemicals made Arctic wildlife vulnerable to health problems including immune suppression and hormone disturbances.
"We can no longer ignore the proof that chemicals are damaging the health of wild animals," said Samantha Smith, director of the Swiss-based group's international arctic program.
The WWF, formerly known as the World Wildlife Fund, said the chemical contamination of the Arctic threatened the survival of many of the region's animal species, who also faced possible habitat and food supply loss due to climate change.
State Set to Test Migratory Birds for Avian Flu
The Seattle Times
14 June 2006
Warren King
State wildlife officials will soon begin testing more than 2,500 migratory birds for the avian influenza virus, watching for spread of the deadly disease from Asia and parts of Europe.
The testing, which will begin in late July, will be part of a nationwide effort to test migratory shorebirds and waterfowl returning from Alaska and the Arctic, where they come into contact with Asian migratory birds that might be carrying the virus, H5N1.
Worldwide, the virus has killed 128 people, mostly Asian poultry workers, and caused the destruction of hundreds of millions of chickens during the past three years. Disease experts say they fear the virus could mutate to spread more easily among humans and cause a deadly, worldwide pandemic.
But so far no birds in North America have tested positive for the deadly form of the virus.
Don Kraege, a manager for the state Department of Fish and Wildlife, said the testing will focus on sick and dying birds, where the virus has mostly turned up in sampling in other countries. Live birds also will be trapped and swabs taken.
Will Feds Assert Wildlife Control?
StarTribune.net
14 June 2006
Whitney Royster
An official with the federal Animal and Plant Health Inspection Service was short on answers Tuesday as Wyoming residents hammered him with questions about a recent memorandum outlining disease eradication in wildlife and livestock.
Ryan Clarke, a regional epidemiologist with APHIS, repeatedly said he did not know ultimately how much power the federal agency would assert over states when working to eradicate the disease brucellosis in wildlife and livestock. Brucellosis can cause cattle and wildlife to abort, and has been a source of consternation for government agencies, ranchers and conservationists in northwest Wyoming.
Clarke also repeatedly said the mission of his agency is to work cooperatively with state wildlife managers.
Clarke made his comments to the Greater Yellowstone Interagency Brucellosis Committee at a meeting in Jackson. His comments related to a March 23 memorandum from APHIS that said the agency has "broad and expansive authority to seize and dispose of any animal, including wildlife" in the event of "an extraordinary disease emergency."
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