West Nile Virus in Greater Sage-Grouse [Wildlife Health Bulletin]
National Wildlife Health Center
06 Nov 2006
Leslie Dierauf
Since July 2006, greater sage-grouse deaths from West Nile virus have been reported in Oregon, Colorado, Idaho, Nevada, Montana, South Dakota, North Dakota, and Wyoming. This bulletin is a summary of interim reports from those states and from USGS investigators. Additional mortality may be documented before the end of the year. Biologists and others are encouraged to report sage-grouse mortality to their respective agencies or the USGS National Wildlife Health Center. State, Tribal and Federal contact information is provided towards the end of this document.
West Nile virus has now been detected in sage-grouse in California, Colorado, Idaho, Montana, Nevada, Oregon, North Dakota, South Dakota, Utah and Wyoming, as well as Alberta, Canada. Experimental studies at the USDA National Wildlife Research Center have shown that West Nile virus is usually fatal to sage-grouse, resulting in death within 6 days of infection.
2 Moose Test Positive For Chronic Wasting Disease
The Associated Press (Posted by cbs4denver.com)
09 Nov 2006
A total of three moose have tested positive for the fatal brain-wasting disease since 2002, out of 528 tested. The moose in the latest cases were killed in October near Glendevey. One was from the same herd as the first moose in Colorado to test positive for chronic wasting, wildlife officials said.
Tests became mandatory in 2003 to help Division of Wildlife biologists monitor the disease, which has been found in wild deer and elk in 10 states and two Canadian provinces. It has been found in northeastern Colorado and southeastern Wyoming for more than two decades.
Court Says Oregon can Ban Hunting of Captive Exotic Species
The Associated Press (Posted by The Oregonian - OregonLive.com)
09 Nov 2006
Oregon wildlife officials have authority to prohibit hunting exotic animals on enclosed ranches in what are called "canned hunts," the state Supreme Court ruled Thursday. The court said the Legislature has given fish and game officers the power to regulate the hunting of such animals as fallow deer from the Mideast, Axis deer from Europe and Sika deer from Japan, raised on large, fenced game ranches.
"... not all animals need to be 'wild' to qualify as 'wildlife' under the statutory definition," the court said.The court decided a case involving Clark Couch. nvestigators said hunters paid $500 to $1,000 to shoot captive animals at his 2,200-acre Clover Creek Ranch northeast of Madras. State game officers accused him of violating a rule passed in 1999 by the state Fish and Wildlife Commission banning canned hunting of exotic, or non-native, species.
Herald Tribune (Posted by HeraldTribune.com)
10 Nov 2006
Kate Spinner
Photo courtesy of HeraldTribune.com
Number of sea turtles nesting on state beaches is plummeting; plan to move the sea cow off endangered list worries activists
When Nan Winans complains that loggerhead sea turtles no longer nest in front of her Manasota Key home, she is not alone in her frustration. In less than a decade, the number of loggerheads nesting on state beaches has plummeted nearly 40 percent, according to an analysis published Thursday by the Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission.
In addition, the number of dead sea turtles washing ashore has risen statewide.
Allen Foley, wildlife biologist with the FWCC, said both trends bode poorly for the loggerhead."When we have increasing amounts of strandings and the one segment that we can count of the population is decreasing, then we worry," he said.Anne Meylan, senior FWCC research scientist, said the state has been gathering data on loggerhead nests since 1989 on 27 beaches statewide, including beaches in Sarasota, Lee and Collier counties.
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