Biologists Try to Solve Duck-Die Off
Eyewitness 5 News – ABC
08 March 2007
Area: Colorado, USA
State and federal biologists have ruled out several causes in the deaths of 850 ducks this winter and were still trying to figure out how they died. Avian flu, bacterial infections and exposure to heavy metals and toxins have been ruled out as culprits in the only mass duck die-off its kind nationally, said Bruce McCloskey, director of the Colorado Division of Wildlife.
"We’ve got more answered questions than we have answers," McCloskey said Thursday. But the worst appears to be over, McCloskey said. Just a few dead ducks have been found in the past few days. Starting in January, several dead ducks were found at a northeast-Denver wastewater treatment plant. Others were found at other treatment plants and a lake between Boulder and Highlands Ranch.
McCloskey said biologists believe that most of the ducks died from hypothermia after losing their waterproofing and getting wet. One suggestion is that detergents or substances to keep water from foaming might be responsible.
Mercury Contamination of Fish Warrants Worldwide Public Warning
University of Wisconsin – Madison (Posted Biology News Net)
08 Mar 2007
The health risks posed by mercury contaminated fish is sufficient to warrant issuing a worldwide general warning to the public — especially children and women of childbearing age-to be careful about how much and which fish they eat. That is one of the key findings comprising "The Madison Declaration on Mercury Pollution" published today in a special issue of the international science journal Ambio.
Developed at the Eighth International Conference on Mercury as a Global Pollutant last August in Madison, Wis., the declaration is a synopsis of the latest scientific knowledge about the danger posed by mercury pollution. It presents 33 principal findings from five synthesis papers prepared by the world's leading mercury scientists and published in the same issue of Ambio. The declaration and supporting papers summarize what is currently known about the sources and movement of mercury in the atmosphere, the socioeconomic and health effects of mercury pollution on human populations, and its effects on the world's fisheries and wildlife.
7 out of 1,800 Harvested Deer have CWD
Deseret News Publishing Company
08 Mar 2007
Area: Utah, USA
Seven deer tested out of more than 1,800 harvested last fall were found to have chronic wasting disease. One of the seven deer was taken during last fall's archery season, two were taken during the muzzleloader season and four were taken during the rifle hunt. In addition to the deer tested, laboratory personnel tested 446 elk taken this past fall. None of the elk tested positive for the disease. CWD has never been found in elk in Utah.
"The disease appears to be staying within areas where we've already found it," said Leslie McFarlane, wildlife disease specialist for the Utah Division of Wildlife Resources. "The La Sal Mountains in southeastern Utah appear to be the hotspot. In central and northeastern Utah, we estimate that less than 1 percent of the buck population is affected by CWD. In the La Sal Mountains, we estimate about 2 percent of the buck deer have the disease.
Health Findings from Institute To Be Free Online
Washington Post
9 Mar 2007
R Weiss
Activists who believe that the results of federally funded research ought to be available free to the public won a victory this week with a deal that will ensure Web posting of studies financed by the Howard Hughes Medical Institute. The Chevy Chase-based institute, which pumps $600 million a year into biomedical research, cut the deal with Elsevier, a Dutch publisher of science journals. Elsevier will post on the Web the manuscripts of all research involving Howard Hughes investigators, six months after the information appears in its journals.
In the past, Elsevier has said that free posting even after a year would undermine its subscriber base. The agreement offsets that risk by having the medical institute pay $1,000 to $1,500 per article. Advocates praised the arrangement and said they hope to get legislation passed this year to mandate similar rules for all publicly funded research. Taxpayers should not have to subscribe to expensive journals, they say, to see results they have paid for.
The table of contents for the January 2007 issue of Journal of Wildlife Diseases is available online.
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