An Unusually High Number of Sea Otter Deaths in Kachemak Bay has Biologists Asking Why are They Dying?
Anchorage Daily News
27 Sep 2006
Melissa DeVaughn
Photo Courtesy of Laura Rauch Associated Press Archive 2003

More dead sea otters are being found near Homer, and lethal bacteria are linked to deaths

Thin and listless, the sea otter washed ashore the morning of Sept. 19 by Homer's Land's End Resort. Struggling to breathe, it appeared partially paralyzed. By 9:47 a.m., a phone call came in to Homer resident Cy St-Amand, who with his wife L.A. Holmes volunteers with the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service to monitor and pick up stranded marine mammals.

As he has done countless times before, St-Amand arrived on the scene, observed the animal's behavior, scooped the otter up and began the 173-mile drive to the Alaska SeaLife Center in Seward for treatment.

Unfortunately, St-Amand said, the otter displayed the classic symptoms of a deadly bacterial infection linked to a die-off in Kachemak Bay. Fish and Wildlife calls such die-offs "Unusual Mortality Events" or UMEs, and this one has attracted the attention of national sea otter experts.

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Joint USDA and DOI News Release: Avian Influenza Tests Complete On Wild Mallard Ducks In Pennsylvania [News Release]
United States Department of Agriculture
23 Sep 2006

The U.S. Departments of Agriculture and Interior today announced final test results, which confirm that low pathogenic H5N1 avian influenza virus was found in samples collected last month from wild mallard ducks in Pennsylvania. This subtype has been detected several times in wild birds in North America and poses no risk to human health.

The USDA National Veterinary Services Laboratories (NVSL) confirmed the presence of the "North American strain" of low pathogenic H5N1 avian influenza through virus isolation in one of the 15 samples collected from the wild mallards in Crawford County, Pennsylvania.

Initial screening results announced on Sept. 2 indicated that an H5N1 avian influenza subtype was present in the collected samples, but further testing was necessary to confirm pathogenicity. As previously announced, genetic testing ruled out the possibility that the samples carried the specific highly pathogenic strain of H5N1 avian influenza that is circulating overseas.

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The Wildlife Society´s 13th Annual Conference & Trade Show is Being Held September 23–27, 2006 [News Release]
Geocommunity
23 Sep 2006

The Wildlife Society´s 13th Annual Conference & Trade Show is being held September 23–27, 2006 in downtown Anchorage, Alaska at the William A. Egan Civic and Convention Center.

Polar bear habitat preferences and prey availability in a changing sea ice environment. In the Beaufort Sea, polar bears (Ursus maritimus), ringed seals (Phoca hispida), and bearded seals (Eriginathus barbatus), inhabit a seasonably dynamic environment that has experienced climate-induced changes.

During most seasons polar bears prefer mixed ice habitats near ice edges in shallow waters over the continental shelf. In past decades, polar bears could maintain this habitat preference for nearshore ice, but in recent years, extensive ice melt has forced most polar bears to summer in deepwater ice habitat more than 200 km from the mainland coast.

A smaller segment of the population is forced to use shoreline habitat. Other research suggests that prey resources may be diminished for polar bears force to occupy land and the deep water pack ice during summer. For example, the winter and spring distribution of ringed seals, the most important prey for polar bears, reflects the general distribution of polar bears.

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Low Pathogenic Avian Influenza; Voluntary Control Program and Payment of Indemnity; Final Rule [Docket No. APHIS-2005-0109]
Federal Register Online
26 Sep 2006

We are amending the regulations to establish a voluntary program for the control of the H5/H7 subtypes of low pathogenic avian influenza in commercial poultry under the auspices of the National Poultry Improvement Plan (the Plan). The control program was voted on and approved by the voting delegates at the Plan's 2004 National Plan
Conference.

We are also providing for the payment of indemnity for costs associated with eradication of the H5/H7 subtypes of low pathogenic avian influenza in poultry. The H5/H7 subtypes of low pathogenic avian influenza can mutate into highly pathogenic avian influenza, a disease that can have serious economic and public health consequences.

This combination of a control program and indemnity provisions is necessary to help ensure that the H5/H7 subtypes of low pathogenic avian influenza are detected and eradicated when they occur within the United States.

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