Panama Hotel Is Imperiled Frogs' Lifeboat
washingtonpost.com
26 October 2006
Manuel Roig-Franzia
Photo courtesy of Manuel Roig-franzia
The guests in Rooms 28 and 29 at the Hotel Campestre here in this lush volcano-crater town get the full spa treatment. Daily cleansing rinses. Exotic lunches. Even 24-hour room service. It would all be so lovely, a real dream, if they could only go outside every once in a while. But they can't. Not ever. One step outside, or in their case one hop, and they'd be goners.
Thus is the lot of Panama's -- and perhaps the world's -- most unusual hotel VIPs, the darling little Panamanian golden frogs of El Valle de Anton. The frogs, considered so lucky in Panama that their images appear on lottery tickets, are in big trouble. They're on the run from a vicious fungus that has already wiped out as many as 120 species of amphibians in Central America.
The Hotel Campestre might be their last hope. If the golden frogs make it, this crumbling backpackers' hangout could very well provide a revolutionary new model for handling one of the world's most endangered species.
More than 300 frogs ended up at the Campestre, which sits in the shadow of steep mountains at the edge of a dormant volcano's crater about 50 miles southwest of Panama City, because of an audacious and quickly confected plan.
Wild Pigs Eyed as Source of Deadly Bacteria Found in Spinach
Associated Press (Posted by Star-Telegram.com)
26 Oct 2006
Andrews Bridges
Wild pigs may have spread deadly bacteria onto a California spinach field, sparking an outbreak that killed three people and sickened more than 200 others nationwide, investigators said Thursday. They also said the outbreak appears to be over.
No one has become ill from eating contaminated spinach since Sept. 25. "All evidence points to this outbreak having concluded," said Dr. Kevin Reilly of the California Department of Health Services. State and federal investigators have narrowed their focus to the ranch, where boar trampled fences that had hemmed in a spinach field.
Samples taken from a wild pig, as well as from stream water and cattle on the ranch, have tested positive for the same strain of E. coli implicated in the outbreak, Reilly said. Still, investigators continue to look at three other ranches in the areas in seeking the source of the contaminated fresh spinach. "We are not saying this is the source at this point," Reilly said of the ranch.
The outbreak sickened 204 people in 26 states and one Canadian province, he said. Wild pigs are one "real clear vehicle" that could explain how E. coli spread from cattle on the ranch to the spinach field less than a mile away, Reilly said. The pigs could have tracked the bacteria into the field or spread it through their droppings, he said. Investigators also are looking at runoff, flooding, irrigation water, fertilizer and other wildlife, including deer, as possible sources.
Confirmatory Avian Influenza Tests Complete on Ohio Duck Samples - New Public Notification Protocol Announced [Joint USDA and DOI News Release]
26 October 2006
DOI and USDA
The U.S. Departments of Agriculture and Interior today announced final test results, which confirm that no avian influenza virus was found in samples collected earlier this month from wild Northern pintail ducks in Ohio.
The USDA National Veterinary Services Laboratories (NVSL) confirmed that there was no avian influenza present in samples collected from wild Northern pintail ducks in Ottawa County, Ohio. Initial screening results announced on Oct. 14 indicated that H5 and N1 subtypes might be present in the collected samples, but further testing was necessary to confirm the H and N subtypes as well as pathogenicity.
The initial rapid screening tests are highly sensitive and can detect inactive viruses in samples. It is not unexpected to have positive results on an initial screening test and then to have confirmatory testing reveal that no active virus is present in a sample. The initial screening tests performed on the Ohio samples resulted in a weak positive for both H5 and N1. During confirmatory testing, H5 and N1 subtypes were not found; no virus could be grown during the virus isolation test.
To date, USDA and DOI have announced 12 presumptive positive and/or confirmatory test results in six states (MI, MD, PA, MT, IL and OH). As the expanded surveillance of wild birds for highly pathogenic avian influenza increases in the coming months, USDA and DOI expect additional detections of the "North American strain" of low pathogenic H5N1 avian influenza (LPAI H5N1).
Montana Gov. Urges Idaho Game Farm Ban
Associated Press (Posted by chron.com)
26 October 2006
Christopher Smith
Montana Gov. Brian Schweitzer has joined Wyoming's chief executive in calling on Idaho lawmakers to ban wild game farms and private hunting reserves to protect the health of Yellowstone's wild elk herds.
"In Montana, we said it's a bad idea to pen up a bunch of elk, feed them oats and have fat bankers from New York City shoot them while they've got their heads in a grain bucket," Schweitzer said Wednesday during an interview in the Boise offices of The Associated Press.
In Idaho to campaign for Democrats running for governor and Congress, Schweitzer said he wholeheartedly agreed with Wyoming Gov. Dave Freudenthal's Oct. 5 letter to Idaho Gov. Jim Risch asking him to urge lawmakers to outlaw domestic elk breeding.
"You can quote the Montana governor as saying, 'Dang tootin','" Schweitzer said. "For people who don't know, that means the affirmative."
Risch signed an executive order Sept. 7 ordering the "immediate destruction" of an estimated 160 domesticated elk that escaped in August from the Chief Joseph private hunting reserve operated by veterinarian Rex Rammell near Ashton, not far from the Wyoming border and Yellowstone National Park. The park covers portions of Idaho, Montana and Wyoming.
Memphis Manatee Missing
26 October 2006
WREG-TV Memphis
People call him Manny. No wonder he took off. That's just not a tough enough name for this manatee. I mean, we're talking about one tough, marine tough manatee, who swam to Memphis all by himself. Maybe, just maybe, he decided to leave without any help...either last night or early this morning. He probably got some rest. "They do sleep," says Pedro Ramos of Sea World. "Either on top, or under the water."
After checking the muddy, almost chewable water of the Wolf River Harbor, the rescue workers began thinking that maybe, just maybe Manny did what a lot of Memphians are doing. He moved south. "They are migratory animals," Ramos said. "It would be the natural thing for him to do....head south."
Alan Peterson of the Tennessee Wildlife and Resources Agency says they thought the manatee would end up in McKellar Lake which is one of the warmest bodies of water in Memphis, directly off the Mississippi. But they didn't find him. As far as this being a difficult search, Peterson says, "Well, it's the first time I've ever searched for a manatee."
That's the point. Outside of the folks from Sea World, manatee searching is sort of a new thing for people in these parts. In fact, Sea World people are just shocked that the big fella actually swam up the Mississippi to Memphis. Shocked, and a bit worried though. Water temperatures are dropping. "The situation is critical," Sea World's Ramos says. "We've got to find him soon, or else his health could really be in danger."
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