Wildlife Disease News Digest

The Peacock’s Blues: The Country’s National Bird is Vulnerable to the Avian Flu Detected Recently in Pakistan
Tehelka
17 Mar 2007
V Singh
Photo courtesy of A Kapoor
Area: Pakistan

It is altogether a different threat from Pakistan. Taking a serious note on the deaths of peacocks in Pakistan, the Centre has written to all states seeking measures to protect the national bird. The peacock, which is facing a decline in the country, is more vulnerable to the avian flu, and there were reported deaths in Pakistan’s Mansehra district in the North West Frontier Province, followed by the deaths of peacocks at the Marghzar zoo in Islamabad last month. In a letter to the Chief Wildlife Wardens of all states and union territories, the Union ministry of environment and forests (MoEF) has drawn their attention to the avian flu outbreak in Pakistan.

Significantly, the peacock tops the list of non-poultry birds to be hit by the dreaded h5n1 virus, with the migratory birds being the primary carriers of the disease. The letter by MoEF Joint Director (Wildlife), Pramod Krishnan states, “a few cases of avian influenza in peacocks have been reported from Pakistan. Since Pakistan shares borders with India, it is imperative that we maintain utmost vigil against the spread of the virus in our country… you are once again requested to beef up the surveillance against the avian influenza in areas falling within your jurisdiction.” The letter has also been sent to the Union health ministry, department of animal husbandry, the Dehra Dun-based Wildlife Institute of India (WLI), Central Zoo Authority and the regional directorates of the MoEF.

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Chimps, Humans Share Bacteria
The News-Gazette
10 Mar 2007
G Kline

Proximity between chimpanzees and people in a protected wildlife area in Uganda may be leaving them with more in common than an ancestor in the distant past. The animals also are apparently picking up human bacteria – some of it with antibiotic resistance, according to a University of Illinois study. Proximity between chimpanzees and people in a protected wildlife area in Uganda may be leaving them with more in common than an ancestor in the distant past. The animals also are apparently picking up human bacteria – some of it with antibiotic resistance, according to a University of Illinois study.

"We should be aware of the risk of infectious disease transmission, probably both ways." Indeed, some of the most prominent infectious diseases to emerge recently are believed to have jumped from animals to humans, HIV, Ebola and bird flu among them. Chimpanzees in some areas have likewise exhibited signs of polio-like disease and gorillas of measles and mumps. Diseases spread to humans can travel fast today as well, as fast as an airliner can fly from Africa to Chicago, for instance.

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Bees Stung by Insecticides in Pollen
separationsNOW.com
12 Mar 2007

There are many pesticides which are highly successful in culling their target populations but which have a detrimental effect on other, more friendly forms of wildlife. One such agent is the insecticide fipronil which is used to control pests in crops, including locusts. It is also effective against domestic insect pests such as ants and cockroaches, as well as ticks, mites and fleas carried on animals. Much of the success of fipronil relies on the fact that it is slow acting. When it is mixed with bait, it is taken back to the colonies and spread about, accelerating the rate of kill. The predicted rate of kill after 3 days is about 95% for ants and cockroaches.

It acts by attacking the central nervous system, disrupting the chloride channel that is regulated by gamma-aminobutyric acid (GABA). Unfortunately, fipronil, a phenylpyrazole type of insecticide, is also highly toxic to bees with a low 50% lethal dose (LD50) of 0.004-0.006 µg/bee. Its long half-life on treated vegetation of 3-7 months ensures prolonged exposure for the bees, which can come into contact via the vegetation itself and through pollen and nectar. Even at sub-lethal doses, the insecticide adversely affects the feeding activity of bees and the ratio of inactive to active bees.

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Bay‘s Raptors Innocent Victims in War on Rats
The Herald online
12 Mar 2007
G Rogers
Area: South Africa

Eighty per cent of the active owl nests in the Nelson Mandela metropolitan area have disappeared in the last five years – and the reason is rat poison. That‘s the warning from Arnold Slabbert, whose years and prominence in the field – first as a conservation officer for the Western District Council and now as chairman of wildlife conservation organisation Wildline – have enabled him to compile possibly the first comprehensive database on the issue. “I‘ve got 35 dead spotted eagle owls in my deep freeze, five rock kestrels, one barn owl and two wood owls, accumulated in the last fourand-a-half months.

Most of them came from around the big food warehouses in Perseverance, Uitenhage industrial and Central, but they also came from suburban households. They were all poisoned. “Sometimes the information is volunteered that, ‘oh yes, we had a rat problem and put down poison‘. Sometimes it takes a little digging. But the link is always clear. When he got to them in the field, the birds were normally dying, Slabbert explained. “They are normally just sitting – sometimes in water, because they get a desperate need for water.

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