West Nile Hits Grouse Again
Jackson Hole Star Tribune
07 Sep 2006
Dustin Bleizeffer
Photo Courtesy of Jackson Hole Star Tribune
Prolonged hot weather is taking its toll once again on sage grouse in the Powder River Basin, where it has been confirmed that five radio-collared birds died of West Nile virus recently. Hot weather has also contributed to significant West Nile virus mortality in sage grouse populations in California, Idaho and Oregon as well, signaling a persistent threat for the species across the West.
"We now should consider West Nile virus an endemic source of mortality (among sage grouse) that we're going to have to deal with for a long time," said David Naugle, a professor of biology at the University of Montana. "Don't plan on this going away. It's another source of mortality for sage grouse long term."
Officials Launch Rabies Bait Program
vindy.com
06 Sep 2006
Sean Barron
Wildlife officials are going to great lengths — and heights — to try to take a bite out of a strain of rabies spread by raccoons. Officials from the U.S. Department of Agriculture and the Ohio Department of Health launched the oral rabies vaccination distribution program today at the Youngstown Elser Metro Airport on Sharrott Road here.
Two types of vaccination baits are being distributed on the ground and by any of three planes over the Mahoning Valley and other parts of Northeast and Eastern Ohio, as well as over 13 counties in Pennsylvania and nine in West Virginia.
The 10-day program, with about 12 flights daily, is set up to prevent the spread of raccoon rabies, which entered Ohio about nine years ago, explained Kathy Smith, public health veterinarian with the Ohio Department of Health. The baits are designed to immunize raccoons so they are unable to spread the disease, which is nearly always fatal in humans and animals, Smith noted.
More AI Testing in U.S. Wild Birds
Wisconsin Ag Connection
06 Sep 2006
U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) and the U.S. Department of the Interior (DOI) announced the presence of the H5N1 avian influenza subtype in fecal samples from wild ducks in Maryland was uncovered. Both departments earlier announced the presence of the H5 and N1 avian influenza subtypes in samples from wild mallard ducks in Pennsylvania.
In both cases, however, testing has ruled out the possibility of the subtypes as being the highly pathogenic H5N1 strain of avian influenza that has spread through birds in Asia, Europe, and Africa. The subtypes found in Maryland and Pennsylvania were low-pathogenic avian influenza subtypes, which pose no threat to human health, a USDA release relays.
The fecal samples were collected on August 2 from resident wild ducks in Queen Anne's County, Md., as part of a research project conducted by Ohio State University. The fecal samples came from mallards that showed no signs of sickness, which also suggests that this was a low-pathogenic subtype.
FluWrap: Bird Outbreaks in 4 Countries
United Press International
06 Sep 2006
Kate Walker
Avian-influenza outbreaks in birds have surfaced in four countries in recent days, with Egypt, Indonesia, Cambodia and Vietnam all reporting incidences of H5N1 infection. In its first reported infections in two months, Egyptian officials announced that avian flu had been found in four birds, all part of domestic flocks.
Three of the cases were discovered in Cairo, while the fourth was found in a small village near Sohag, in the south of the country. The infections were detected during random tests on Egyptian birds conducted as a bird-flu control measure. Hassan el-Bushra, regional adviser for communicable diseases surveillance at the World Health Organization, said of the discoveries: "It is significant. It tells us that the virus is still circulating."
It is hoped that these recent infections will not spark a wider outbreak of the sort seen earlier this year, when Egypt became the country to record the highest number of human infections -- 14, and six deaths -- outside of Asia.
Biologists are Seeking Answers
Wyoming Tribune-Eagle
07 Sep 2006
Cara Eastwood
Students and professionals present cutting-edge research at regional meeting of The Wildlife Society
As natural-gas development makes a steady march across the Powder River Basin northwest of here, sage grouse are suffering, and now there's data to prove it. Preliminary results from a doctoral thesis by Brett Walker of the University of Montana show that sage grouse abandon breeding grounds that are near natural-gas wells and pumping stations and flock to leks that are outside the edges of development.
"Inside the natural-gas fields, sage grouse leks are 25 percent of what they were (before development)," Walker said last week to a roomful of professional wildlife managers and biologists. Walker's research project was one of many discussed at a meeting of The Wildlife Society on the University of Wyoming campus.
The five-day conference drew about 150 wildlife biologists and students from the Central Mountains and Plains Section that includes Kansas, Colorado, Nebraska, South Dakota, North Dakota, Wyoming, Utah and two Canadian provinces.
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