Wildlife Disease News Digest

Wild Boars Culled as FMD Hits Zoo Again
The Hindu - hinduonnet.com
06 Aug 2007
Area: Kerala India

With the foot-and-mouth (FMD) disease recurring in the zoo here, 19 wild boars have been culled and closed for visitors indefinitely for the second time in a month. The deadly disease afflicting cloven-hoofed animals had claimed about 25 animals including black bucks, Mithun bulls and Nilgai since the outbreak last month. The zoo authorities were given the permission to cull the wild boars yesterday after a high-power technical committee of experts reviewed the situation. The authorities were still finding it difficult to contain the probelm as the virus cuasing the deadly affliction is carried by winds.

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Gopher Tortoise Rules Change
The Ledger - theledger.com
06 Aug 2007
M Green
Area: Florida USA

Lake Alfred mayor is relieved that developers no longer can entomb them.

Probably no one is more relieved that the state will no longer allow developers to entomb gopher tortoises than Mayor Nancy Daley. The Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission decided in June on the change in policy that took effect July 30. "It made me happy because I thought it was horrible for them to allow the gopher tortoises to be buried in the first place," he said. "Any living creature shouldn't be disregarded like that." To remove the tortoises from the burrows, developers would have to use bucket trapping or excavation to get them out.

...Before the changes in policy, Fish and Wildlife officials thought relocating the tortoises was doing more harm than good. This was because of upper respiratory tract disease that was spreading among the tortoise population, said Greg Holder, director Fish and Wildlife's southwest region. "The agency learned about the disease a number of years ago," Holder said. "We just didn't know a lot about it." As a precaution, the agency limited the distance tortoises could be relocated for fear of spreading the disease.

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Rabies, Jackals, Human - Azerbaijan - Archive Number 20070805.2544
ProMED-mail - promedmail.org
30 Jul 2007
Area: Azerbaijan

Laboratory tests on specimens from animals in the village of Gardashobain in the Khachmaz region after attacks by jackals have shown that they were infected by rabies. According to information provided by Yolchu Khanveli, the press secretary of the state veterinary service at the Ministry of Agriculture, during the past
few days, no cases of attacks on villagers have been recorded. Previously, some cases of attacks have been reported in the village of Gardashoba, which is surrounded by forests, when 4 children and an old man were attacked by jackals. All have received appropriate post-exposure treatment.

Khanveli said that all cattle and other livestock in the village have been immunized now against rabies. During the past few days, one child had died as a result of rabies virus infection in the village of Neftchala. In this case, the parents were responsible for the fatality, as they did not seek medical care for the child. The state [veterinary] service stated that they were not solely responsible for rabies control but had been assisted by the executive bodies of Khachmaz region, the Association of Hunters, and the Ministries of Health, Ecology and natural resources.

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Scientists Know One Cause of Bee Disease
The Daily Green - thedailygreen.com
06 Aug 2007
M Henein
Area: United States

Members of the Colony Collapse Disorder Working Group submitted a manuscript recently to one of the most prestigious science journals in the nation, stating that they’ve found a new virus that may be contributing to, if not causing, the vanishing of the bees. The authors unfortunately are not at liberty to say much about it their findings because of all the science-related red tape involved. When it comes to “hard” science reporting, there are non-disclosures and embargoes. Spilling the beans before peer review has evaluated and accepted a paper could jeopardize its publication. Scientists get raises, tenure and recognition based on these published results.

“We’re obligated by the journal’s policies not to talk about it,” says Diana Cox-Foster, an entomology professor at Penn State University, member of the CCD Working Group and one of the author’s of the paper. “We don’t even know when it’s going to be published but we’re anxiously waiting. (According to an article in the New York Time dated April24, Cox-Foster is leading the team of researchers in the CCD Working Group.) Some of the other members however are frustrated because they too are being kept out of the loop.

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Fatal Deer Disease Hits LaSalle County
Peoria Journal Star - pjstar.com
06 Aug 2007
D Goodman
Area: Illinois USA

A fatal deer disease discovered in northern Illinois in 2002 has spread to LaSalle County. The county's first confirmed case of chronic wasting disease was a mature doe found late last month on private property in Seneca near the Illinois River. "It was showing the classic signs of chronic illness," said Paul Shelton, forest wildlife program manager for the state Department of Natural Resources. The latest case brings the state's total to 189 since 2002.

Other counties with CWD cases are Winnebago, Boone, Ogle, DeKalb and McHenry. The vast majority of the cases have been discovered in Winnebago and Boone counties. Previously, the most-southern case was a single deer found in DeKalb County, about 30 miles north of Seneca. Shelton thought the deer likely had wandered into LaSalle County from the northern counties. He said deer can travel great distances in a short time.

>>>FULL ARTICLE