Wildlife Disease News Digest

New tortoise peril
The Sun - www.sbsun.com
15 Mar 2008
L McSherry
Area: California United States

Scientists say sickness puts species at risk

Runny eyes, stuffed-up nose, sore throat. It sounds like a bad case of the common cold, but for the threatened desert tortoise, the symptoms foretell a deadly disease. Kristin Berry, a wildlife biologist for the U.S. Geological Survey based in Riverside, has been tracking the illness, known as Upper Respiratory Tract Disease, that is afflicting tortoises in the High Desert. Berry has identified pockets of outbreaks and recently launched a study to find out how quickly the disease is spreading. A number of scientists are involved in projects evaluating the health of desert tortoises in the Mojave Desert.

The scientists are conducting physical exams as well as collecting blood samples, the only sure way to determine whether the animal is carrying disease antibodies, said Roy Averill-Murray, desert tortoise recovery coordinator for the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service in Reno. Blood is drawn by inserting a needle into the subcarapacial sinus, a spot on top of the head, right in front of the shell. Field workers also do "a nasal flush" to collect mucus that is analyzed for bacteria, Averill-Murray said.

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Area safe from mystery bat illness so far, but may not continue to be
Foster's Daily Democrat (Associated Press contributed to this article)
16 Mar 2008
J Howe
Photo courtesy of Mike Ross
Area: United States

. . . White nose has been found at previously affected sites again this winter. It also has spread to more sites in New York, Vermont and Massachusetts. About 400,000 to 500,000 bats hibernate at affected sites. They include the Chester mine complex in western Massachusetts. "I've been in Chester Mine twice, and there were bats flying all around, and they were landing on top of the roofs, drinking snow melt and dying all around these houses," von Oettingen said. "When we went into caves in Vermont, there were bats dead and dying everywhere, and they were roosting right in the sunlight, which is really, really unusual." Experts are looking for signs the illness has spread further, but neither she nor others have recorded a spread into Maine or New Hampshire.

. . . "Right now, there are no known cases," von Oettingen said, adding that the largest location in New Hampshire where bats hibernate is Mascot Mine in Gorham. "From what we know, Mascot Mine is clean." The U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service has asked cavers and bat experts visiting hibernation sites to take precautions. For example, cavers have been asked not to wear into as-yet uncontaminated mines any clothing that may have been worn during visits to infected sites during the last two years, said Alan Hicks, a wildlife biologist with the New York Department of Environmental Conservation. He was among the first to begin tracking the illness in that state and is rallying scientists to help determine what's killing the bats. If an answer is not discovered soon, he said, the bats "are toast."

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Related News
>>>Mon. Nat. Forest to close 6 public caves because of bat disease

Blocked study draws attention to PCBs
Green Bay Press Gazette - www.greenbaypressgazette.com
15 Mar 2008
T Walter
Area: Wisconsin United States

It examines health risks of eating fish from bay, Fox River

It has been almost 20 years since the National Wildlife Federation issued its first fish consumption warning, drawing the public's attention to the effects of PCBs and mercury on Great Lakes fish. Back then, it was met with strong opposition from sport and commercial fishermen, among others. The debate continues to rage today. A 400-page study on health and environmental hazards in the Great Lakes was blocked from publication by the CDC last year. Part of the report draws attention to the health risks associated with eating fish from the Lower Fox River and Green Bay.

The study was conducted by a division of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention at the request of a joint Canadian-U.S. organization — the International Joint Commission, an independent bi-national organization established by the Boundary Waters Treaty of 1909. It is intended to prevent and resolve disputes relating to the use and quality of boundary waters and to advise Canada and the United States on related questions. Environmental and health organizations want to know why information about fish consumption risks is not being released or given higher priority by government agencies. "It's all part of a pattern of suppression of information," said Rebecca Katers, executive director of the Clean Water Action Council in Green Bay. "Nothing is changing, or it's changing for the worse."

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Bovine TB rate down, future of hunting questioned
Mlive.com (Source: Bay City Times)
17 Mar 2008
H Lounsbury
Area: Michigan United States

Last week's state report announcing that bovine tuberculosis prevalence rates in white-tailed deer dropped to 1.4 percent in Northeast Michigan's core TB outbreak area is welcome news to local sportsmen and business owners. But for many in the region, the news begs other questions. Residents want to know, for example, when better TB control will prompt state wildlife managers to reconsider local deer feeding and baiting bans. They wonder, too, if liberalized hunting rules aimed at thinning the region's deer herds might change, too.

. . . State wildlife managers, for their part, emphasized last week that their focus remains fixed on TB eradication in Northeast Lower Michigan. That effort includes banning supplemental feeding because it increases the risk of disease transmission among deer. Michigan's Department of Natural Resources, in fact, stepped up enforcement efforts on feeding bans during the 2007 hunting season. Bovine TB, a deadly lung disease, spreads through nose-to-nose contact like that encouraged by bait piles. ''While we've made much progress in controlling and eradicating this disease, we still have much work to do,'' said Steve Schmitt, a Michigan Department of Natural Resources wildlife veterinarian. ''Baiting and feeding remain problematic in the core TB area.''

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OTHER WILDLIFE HEALTH RELATED NEWS
Photo courtesy of Steve Maslowski/USFWS