Red Squirrels at Risk from Killer Disease
Telegraph.co.uk
18 July 2006
Photo courtesy of Telegraph.co.uk
A deadly virus is threatening to wipe out one of Britain's rare red squirrel colonies. The squirrel pox virus, one of the major factors behind the decline of the once-common red squirrel, has struck in Instal, Merseyside, just a few miles from a National Trust red squirrel reserve.
Vets identified the disease from an animal found dead in a back garden.
Grey squirrels can carry the virus without being affected and are blamed for spreading it to red squirrels, which have no immunity to the disease.
"If this thing gets hold of the red squirrel population, then it will kill them - and kill them very quickly", said Steve White, conservation officer at the Lancashire Wildlife Trust. "Our only hope is to get in and get rid of the grey squirrels as quickly as possible", he added.
Lake Nakuru Hit by New Flamingo Deaths
The Standard
19 July 2006
Steven Mkawale and Winnie Chumo
Mass death of flamingos has been reported in Lake Nakuru National Park. But the Kenya Wildlife Service (KWS) on Tuesday ruled a bird flu outbreak as the cause of the deaths, which have occurred in the last two weeks.
KWS personnel have collected at least two truckloads of the dead migratory birds, which are the main tourist attraction at the lake. Senior KWS warden, Charles Muthui, said officials from the regional veterinary office and the wildlife organisation researchers had collected samples for testing.
He ruled out bird flu, adding that lack of fresh water was the possible cause of the deaths. "The streams and rivers flowing into the lake have dried up due to destruction of Mau Forest, which is the main water catchment for the lake," he said.
Illegal Possession of Wildlife and its Associated Risks [Editorial]
Fauquier Times-Democrate/The Fauquier Citizen at TimesCommunity.com
18 July 2006
Gerald Massengill
. . . The search for evidence related to the illegal purchase and possession of the muntjac deer was completed without incident, and the Crosses were completely cooperative. They thanked our game wardens for their professionalism as they departed their property approximately one hour and 20 minutes after arrival.
The Crosses were not charged. However, it is illegal to possess wildlife in Virginia by state statute, and in Fauquier County by local ordinance without a permit - and there is no permit that allows individuals to take and hold wildlife as pets or as a private menagerie.
Disease risks
The VDGIF is concerned about wildlife diseases, and how captive deer pose an increased risk for the introduction of disease to our native deer. Under the best scenarios, when wildlife is held in captivity, the opportunity exists for escape and/or native wildlife gaining access into the captive facility or making nose to nose contact with the captive animal through fencing.
Biologists Try to Discover What is Killing Pickwick Lake Mussels
Associated Press (Posted by Ledger-Enquirer.com)
18 July 2006
Biologists from the Tennessee Wildlife Resources agency have joined mussel experts from the Alabama Department of Conservation and Natural Resources in trying to discover what is killing mussels in Pickwick Lake.
Bob Milligan, a mussel diver from Guntersville with 24 years experience, said he has never seen the waterway littered with as many dead mollusks as he found Monday. "Everything out there is dying," Milligan said. "For every hundred mussels you find, only 10 will still be alive. Of that 10, seven will almost be dead."
Divers began noticing dead mussels about two weeks ago, but the pace at which they have been dying off quickened late last week. "At the rate this is going, every mussel out there may be dead by the end of the week," Milligan told the TimesDaily in a story Tuesday.
Bruce Metts, who owns a shell business in Cherokee, said a mussel's shell begins to deteriorate when it dies. Within six weeks of death, he said, the shell goes from being worth 95 cents a pound to worthless.
Metts said Pickwick Lake was just beginning to recover from a massive mussel die-off in 2004 that the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service estimated killed more than $40 million worth of mussels. The precise cause of that die-off was never determined, and Metts said this one appears much worse.
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