Three Deer Test Positive for CWD
Alamogordo Daily News
09 July 2006

Three deer in southern New Mexico have tested positive for chronic wasting disease, according to a statement released by the New Mexico Department of Fish and Game. The department received results Wednesday from the state Veterinary Diagnostic Services that two wild deer captured near White Sands Missile Range headquarters, and a third wild deer captured near Timburon, tested positive for the disease.

To date, the disease has been confined to the southern Sacramento Mountains and areas surrounding the Organ Mountains. Two wild elk from the Sacramentos tested positive in December 2005. The three recent cases bring to 15 the number of infected deer found in the state, since the first case was discovered in 2002.

Chronic wasting disease a fatal neurological illness that affects deer, elk and moose. It is similar to scrappie in sheep, Creutzfeld-Jakob disease in humans, and bovine spongiform encephalopathy, or "mad cow disease," in cows. All are believed to be formed by infectious proteins called prions.

The state fish and game department said there is no evidence of chronic wasting disease being transmitted to humans or livestock.

>>>ARTICLE

Botulism Killed Ducks at Chamisa Hills
The Rio Rancho Observer
09 July 2006
Tom Treweek

After conducting tests on two of more than a dozen dead ducks found in ponds at the Chamisa Hills Golf Course, the New Mexico Department of Game and Fish has announced the birds died from botulism.

Botulism outbreaks are a natural occurrence, Game and Fish wildlife disease specialist Kerry Mower said, which may have been fueled by warm weather, heavy rains, and decaying matter in the sediment. Oxygen levels decrease because of high water temperatures, which can contribute to the growth of botulism bacteria, he said.

"Once it gets started, it sort of feeds on itself," Mower said. "The maggots on the dead ducks also pick up and concentrate the botulism toxin, and other ducks and birds that eat the maggots become poisoned. The best thing to do is to clean up all the dead ducks and wait for cooler weather and the sediment to settle."

Game and Fish spokesperson Dan Williams said people should stay away from the water and the dead animals, as it is possible that the disease could spread. Area residents delivered the first dead ducks to the department.

"We don't advise touching the dead wildlife ... especially if you don't know what killed them," he said.

>>>FULL ARTICLE

Extinction Crisis for Amphibians Frogs, Toads and Other Species Dying Off -- New Fungus Magnifies Environmental Problems
San Fransico Chronicle
07 July 2006
David Perlman
Photo courtsey of San Fransico Chronicle


A strange new fungus disease that kills frogs and toads and every other species of amphibian is spreading around the globe and -- combined with pollution and overdevelopment -- is driving more and more of the creatures to extinction, a coalition of the world's top biologists warns.

At least one-third of the world's known amphibians are threatened by the combination of attacks, and up to 122 species have become extinct within the past 25 years, the international team of specialists is reporting in today's edition of the journal Science.

"Amphibian declines and extinctions are global and rapid," 50 of the world's leading specialists on water-dwelling animals declared in a joint report. At least 427 species are "critically endangered," they said.

The effects are being felt in California's High Sierra, where Berkeley scientists found that the disease is rampant and killing yellow-legged frogs and Yosemite toads, whose populations already are being strained by development and pollution.

While the spread of the disease is a major new threat to all amphibians, the scientists reported that the greatest current danger to every threatened species is still the loss of habitat as cities and suburbs expand, streams and ponds and wetlands give way to the needs of farmers, and forest lands are destroyed.

But the fungus, a unique species called Batrachochytrium dendrobatidis, could start taking on a larger role in the increasing extinction because of global warming, which scientists suspect is lowering amphibians' resistance to the disease.

>>>FULL ARTICLE