Wildlife Disease News Digest

HONG KONG: Another heron found with bird flu
ABC Radio Australia - www.radioaustralia.net.au
19 Feb 2008
Area: Hong Kong China

Five years after avian influenza broke out across Asia, the region is still struggling to stop the virus spread. Not least in Hong Kong, where officials say another grey heron has been found dead and tested positive for the fatal H5N1 strain of bird flu.

ABBANY: When it comes to avian influenza, the grey heron is one of those dreaded things: a bird that moves around. Described by the South China Morning Post as a 'common winter visitor to Hong Kong', this latest dead grey heron shows how difficult it is to stop the virus spread. Birds -- by their very nature -- fly where ever they want to. But whether they're native or just visiting, the birds are forcing Hong Kong to act.

DVD: [music] Hong Kong is a well-known culinary paradise and also one of the busiest transportation hubs in the world. Any epidemic outbreak would seriously impact this place.

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Another 14 CWD cases are found
Sioux City Journal - www.siouxcityjournal.com
19 Feb 2008
Area: South Dakota United States

Fourteen cases of chronic wasting disease were found in deer and elk tested by the state Department of Game, Fish and Parks in the second half of 2007. The infected animals -- 13 deer and one elk -- were from southwest South Dakota, where all of the state's CWD cases have been found since testing began. Chronic wasting disease attacks the brain of infected animals and is always fatal. It's been found in the wild in more than a half-dozen states.

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Related News
>>>South Dakota's Chronic Wasting Disease(CWD)Testing Update - 2007

Zoo releases boorolong frogs in NSW
The Sydney Morning Herald - news.smh.com.au
19 Feb 2008
Photo courtesy of ABC Goulburn Murray
Area: New South Wales Australia

The first booroolong frogs to be bred in a zoo have been released back into the wild in NSW, in a bid to boost their numbers. The release occurred one year after Sydney's Taronga Zoo started a breeding program to save the tiny amphibian. The numbers of the critically endangered native species are falling dramatically, a zoo spokeswoman said, with fewer than 5,000 remaining in the wild. The decline has been attributed to water pollution, loss of habitat and use of herbicides and pesticides, as well as chyrtid fungus and climate change, the spokesman said.

>>>FULL ARTICLE

OTHER WILDLIFE HEALTH RELATED NEWS