Efforts to Track Bird Flu Hampered by Deficiencies in Data Collection
Medical News Today
05 Nov 2006
The highly pathogenic H5N1 avian influenza has been detected in at least 55 countries in Asia, Europe, and Africa. This often fatal disease is of pressing concern because it can be transmitted from birds to humans, although such transmissions have been rare so far. Unfortunately, according to a Roundtable article in the November 2006 BioScience, the journal of the American Institute of Biological Sciences (AIBS), critical information about incidence of the disease in wild birds--even the species of the infected bird--is often recorded inaccurately or not recorded at all. The deficiencies in data collection, the authors write, "can lead to unwarranted assumptions and conclusions that in turn affect public perceptions, practical control and management measures, and the disposition of resources."
Bird flu is typically studied by veterinarians and virologists. The article's authors, Mai Yasue, Chris J. Feare, Leon Bennun, and Wolfgang Fiedler, made use of the Aiwatch (avian influenza watch) e-mail forum to gather information for their article from sources worldwide. They describe several instances in which the species of an infected wild bird was incorrectly or inadequately recorded--sometimes just as "wild duck," for example--and others in which the bird's sex and age were misidentified. Likewise, reported details of the location and time of discovery of an infected bird often lack specificity, yet they are crucial for a good understanding of the virus's spread.
Calls Mount for Tough Biosecurity Policy to Save Tas Devils
ABC News Online
06 Nov 2006
The Tasmanian Government has been warned it is risking the survival of the tasmanian devil by not forcing wildlife park owners to comply with biosecurity requirements. Documents released yesterday show compliance with the code of practice for at least one wildlife park was downgraded from mandatory last year to optional this year. The State Government has been accused of watering down biosecurity requirements for wildlife parks ahead of the export of four tasmanian devils to Denmark earlier this year. The four devils were sent from the Trowunna Wildlife Park, in Tasmania's north-east, the same park where three devils have recently tested positive to the deadly facial tumour disease.
The Tasmanian Greens say while most wildlife parks do comply with the code, an enforceable policy is needed to ensure there are no biosecurity breaches. The Greens environment spokesman, Nick McKim, says a biosecurity investigation should reveal any culpability by the Government. "If that investigation shows that there were biosecurity lapses, that will be fair and square laid at the feet of the Government," he said. Mr McKim says the Government has ignored potential biosecurity breaches.
Officials Again Warn of Chronic Wasting Disease
StatesmanJournal.com
05 Nov 2006
Because awareness, and as a result compliance, seems to be slipping, officials have issued a reminder about bringing meat and animal parts into Oregon. The rules were imposed to keep chronic wasting disease from getting into the state. CWD, as it is commonly known, is a neurological disease that is always fatal to deer and elk. Annual sampling and tests are run, and the disease has not yet been detected in Oregon.
Biologists said they want to keep it that way. Hunters that are hunting in states where chronic wasting disease has been detected need to be careful about what parts of deer and elk they bring into Oregon. There is a ban on deer and elk carcass parts containing central nervous system tissue from animals killed in states or provinces with documented CWD. Those states and Canadian provinces are Colorado, Wyoming, Utah, Montana, New Mexico, Kansas, Nebraska, Oklahoma, South Dakota, Minnesota, Wisconsin, New York, West Virginia and the provinces of Alberta and Saskatchewan.
Elk Preserves Elicit Criticism from Hunters, Wildlife Managers
The Charlotte Observer
05 Nov 2006
Michael Martinez
A self-described "mountain man" with a beauty queen daughter has no problem with hunters shooting trophy elk fenced in on his 168-acre ranch. But the outside world crashed in on Rex Rammell recently when a bear hole dug a hole that breached that fence, allowing what he estimates as about 100 of his 160 elk to escape his private hunting farm in August, the largest such breakout in state memory. Suddenly Rammell, who casts himself as an American West iconoclast whose forebears were homesteaders in the 1800s, was at the center of a regional tempest about the ethics of elk hunting preserves. Idaho Gov. James Risch ordered a special hunt to kill the escaped elk, angering Rammell, who's now charged with obstructing a game officer and poking a participating citizen hunter in the eye.
The hunt officially ended last week. So emotional is the issue that the governors of three states tied to Yellowstone National Park, including Idaho, condemned Rammell and his shooting ranch, which is legal in Idaho and is among a growing number of 14 statewide, including one planned by former Denver Bronco Rulon Jones outside Idaho Falls. What triggered an outrage evocative of the old Wild West was concern that a large domestic herd would spread disease to Yellowstone's wild elk just 8 miles away during the rut. Like the buffalo that once blanketed the country, elk suffered near-extermination in the 1800s, but now they number about 1 million and are regarded as a national heritage, conservationists said.
Researchers: Autopsies Key to Saving Sea Turtles
Naples Daily News
05 Nov 2006
Jeremy Cox
Death can befall a sea turtle in many ways. Swallowing a plastic bag, swimming into a gill net, eating fish poisoned by red tide and getting tangled in fishing line are just a few of the hazards turtles face in the sea. With so many possibilities, each death represents a mystery to be solved. That job falls to a loosely organized team of researchers led by the Florida Fish and Wildlife Research Institute, the scientific arm of the state’s top wildlife agency.
The group convenes in St. Petersburg two or three times a year, with Saturday being the latest, to perform necropsies — the animal world’s version of autopsies — on sea turtles that died under mysterious circumstances. It isn’t pretty. In fact, the sight and odor of so many dead turtles in one room can be downright stomach-turning. But, in many cases, a necropsy is the only way to find out what killed a turtle. And knowing that answer might help save other turtles, marine researchers say.
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