Wildlife Disease News Digest

Report backs limited badger cull
BBC News - news.bbc.uk
27 Feb 2008
P Ghosh
Location: United Kingdom
Photo courtesy of BBC News

MPs have backed calls for a limited cull of badgers to help prevent the spread of TB in cattle.

A report by the environment select committee says the action should be focused on TB hotspots and form part of a package of control measures.

About 4,000 herds were affected by the disease last year, predominantly in the south west of England. That is up nearly 18% on 2006 and left unchecked the disease is likely to spread across all of the UK by 2012.

If that were to happen, it would probably cost the taxpayer £1bn to tackle and to compensate farmers.

>>> FULL ARTICLE

>>> NFU endorses EFRA committee's call for all out attack on bovine TB

Positive Minnesota tests confirm TB fears
The Dickinson Press – www.thedickinsonpress.com
J Odermann
27 Feb 2008
Location: Minnesota, USA
Photo courtesy of Game and Fish Dept. North Dakota

Tests conducted in Minnesota confirmed the fears of wildlife management officials and those in the beef cattle industry that Tuberculosis is most likely in that state to stay.

In response, the North Dakota Board of Animal Health voted Feb. 22 for new regulations to be implemented regarding animals crossing the border.

On Feb. 19, the Minnesota Board of Animal Health announced a Beltrami County cattle herd tested positive for bovine TB.

It was the fourth positive test since October of 2007, which led to the new regulations by the North Dakota board. The new North Dakota steps include mandatory tests for all cattle, bison, goats, farmed elk and llamas coming into the state.

>>> FULL ARTICLE

‘No obvious signs’ point to cause of calf’s death
The Maui News - www.mauinews.com
E Tanji
27 Feb 2008
Location: Puamana, Maui, Hawaii
Photo courtesy of Maui News

A medical examination of a young humpback whale that died after washing onto the shoreline at Puamana on Monday found no obvious injuries or factors that might have caused the whale’s death, a federal marine resources specialist said Tuesday.

“There were no obvious signs of the cause of death,” said Nicole Davis, Marine Mammal Response Program coordinator on Maui. “She had injuries, but they did not appear to be fatal injuries.”

>>> FULL ARTICLE

Polluted Prey Causes Wild Birds To Change Their Tune
Science Daily – www.sciencedaily.com
26 Feb 2008
Photo courtesy of Science Daily

Considerable attention has been paid to the effects of endocrine disrupting chemicals in aquatic environments, but rather less attention has been given to routes of contamination on land. A new study by researchers at Cardiff University, reveals that wild birds foraging on invertebrates contaminated with environmental pollutants, show marked changes in both brain and behaviour: male birds exposed to this pollution develop more complex songs, which are actually preferred by the females, even though these same males usually show reduced immune function compared to controls.

Katherine Buchanan and her colleagues studied male European starlings (Sturnus vulgaris) foraging at a sewage treatment works in the south-west UK and analysed the earthworms that constitute their prey. The researchers found that those birds exposed to environmentally-relevant levels of synthetic and natural estrogen mimics developed longer and more complex songs compared to males in a control group.

>>> FULL ARTICLE

Related Publication

>>> Pollutants Increase Song Complexity and the Volume of the Brain Area HVC in a Songbird. PLoS One. 2008; 3(2): e1674.

Not dire yet, but cold, snow, lack of food raise concerns for wildlife
Green Bay Press Gazette - www.greenbaypressgazette.com
T Rozwadowski
26 Feb 2008
Location: Wisconsin and Michigan, USA

As an unforgiving winter continues to stifle Wisconsin residents, concern is growing for area wildlife left to find food among the snow-covered terrain.

So far, so good for Northeastern Wisconsin and Michigan's Upper Peninsula. But wildlife supervisors from both areas said what Mother Nature delivers in March will be the real test.

"That's when it becomes a much bigger issue in terms of wildlife mortality. The duration of winter," said Jeff Pritzl, wildlife supervisor at the Wisconsin Department of Natural Resources' northeast regional headquarters in Green Bay.

>>> FULL ARTICLE

>>>Harsh Winter Forces Wildlife Into Back Yards : Predators Have Hard Time Finding Food

Good News: Decatur County Deer Sampling Results all Negative
Kansas Dept of Wildlife & Parks - www.kdwp.state.ks.us
26 Feb 2008

Tissue samples from deer collected earlier this month in Decatur County all have tested negative for chronic wasting disease (CWD), reports the Kansas Department of Wildlife & Parks.

After three deer taken by hunters in that area during the 2007 hunting season tested positive for the disease, KDWP biologists collected an additional 39 deer in Decatur County Feb. 11 through 13. Screening tests performed by Kansas State Veterinary Diagnostic Laboratory on those 39 samples yielded results that KDWP and Decatur County hunters and landowners wanted to hear: no additional positive results for the disease.

. . . KDWP is awaiting results of another 550 hunter-submitted samples from the 2007 deer season, but all of those are from the eastern half of the state, where the known risk of CWD is lower than western Kansas. Analysis of all hunter-submitted samples from the western half of the state is complete.

>>> FULL ARTICLE

OTHER WILDLIFE HEALTH RELATED NEWS
Photo courtesy of New York Times/Zafer Kizilkaya