Wildlife Disease News Digest

Die-off decimates bighorn sheep herd
Helena Independent Record - www.helenair.com
11 Apr 2008
E Byron
Area: Montana, USA
Photo Courtesy of Montana FWP

The wild bighorn sheep in the Elkhorn Mountains have suffered an “all-age die-off,” with only 19 found alive last week. “If this die-off hadn’t occurred, we should have had around 220, plus or minus a few,” said Tom Carlsen, a Fish, Wildlife and Parks biologist. “This is what we call an all-age die-off, meaning sheep of all ages — lambs, older adults — all the animals are affected.

“I’m not aware of any place in Montana where we’ve had a die-off of this magnitude. We lost over 90 percent of the herd.” Carlsen said all the sheep that he saw appeared to be healthy.The die-off was suspected in January, after 12 dead sheep were found. Tests confirm that they suffered from pneumonia, which bighorn sheep can catch through nose-to-nose contact with domestic sheep or goats. The domesticated animals have a built-in immunity to pneumonia, but the disease is fatal for wild bighorns.

>>>FULL ARTICLE

State: Alewives washing up on shores of Lake Champlain
Burlington Free Press - www.burlingtonfreepress.com
11 Apr 2008
Area: Lake Champlain, Vermont, USA

Small fish called alewives are washing up on the shores of Lake Champlain in large numbers, according to the Department of Fish & Wildlife. State fisheries biologists from the Vermont Fish & Wildlife Department say it is an example of the kind of problems a non-native invasive species can cause. First documented in Lake Champlain in 2005, alewives have since been found throughout most of the lake. Large numbers of young alewives were first observed in the Inland Sea in 2007.

State biologists responded to numerous calls from concerned anglers reporting dead fish washing up on shores of the Inland Sea during the January thaw. Fisheries Biologist Bernie Pientka and Fish Health Biologist Tom Jones investigated and found tens of thousands of dead and dying alewives, most about three inches long and one year old. Adult alewives as large as eight inches were also documented. Results of testing showed that these alewives were negative for viral hemorrhagic septicemia (VHS), a disease that is killing fish in the Great Lakes.

>>>FULL ARTICLE

One in 10 RMNP elk have wasting disease
The Reporter-Herald - www.reporterherald.com
10 Apr 2008
Area: Rocky Mountain National Park
Photo Courtesy of The Reporter-Herald

More than one in 10 elk in eastern Rocky Mountain National Park could have chronic wasting disease, a study from park officials concludes. In testing performed by National Park Service staff members from January to March, 13 of the 117 tests for the disease came back positive. It was the first time that free-ranging elk had been tested using a live procedure. Before, elk had to be killed before veterinarians could determine whether the animals had the disease.

The 13 elk that tested positive with the live test were euthanized, and necropsies confirmed the diagnoses. Rocky Mountain National Park spokeswoman Kyle Patterson said researchers were not surprised at the results because the elk herds in the eastern part of the park and the Estes Valley are more densely packed and travel less than others in the wild.

>>>FULL ARTICLE

Massive Study Of Madagascar Wildlife Leads To New Conservation Roadmap
ScienceDaily - www.sciencedaily.com
11 Apr 2008
Area: Madagascar
Photo Courtesy of Science Daily/Edward E. Louis Jr.

An international team of researchers has developed a remarkable new roadmap for finding and protecting the best remaining holdouts for thousands of rare species that live only in Madagascar, considered one of the most significant biodiversity hot spots in the world. In their conservation plan, the researchers, led by conservation biologists at the University of California, Berkeley, not only included lemurs - those large-eyed, tree-hopping primates that have become poster children for conservation - but also species of ants, butterflies, frogs, geckos and plants.

Altogether, more than 2,300 species found only in the vast area of Madagascar - a 226,642-square-mile (587,000-square-kilometer) island nation in the Indian Ocean - were included in the analysis. Centralizing and analyzing the sheer quantity of data available to develop a map of conservation priorities provided an unprecedented analytical challenge.

>>>FULL ARTICLE

Why are bats dying in the Northeast, and what do those deaths mean for Tennessee?
knoxnews - www.knoxnews.com
11 Apr 2008
M Simmons
Area: Tenessee, USA
Photo Courtesy of knoxnews/Saul Young

The die-off of bats that has plagued the Northeast over the last two winters has frightening implications for Tennessee, local bat experts say. So far, an estimated half-million bats in New York, Vermont and Massachusetts have died, and scientists don't know why. Because many of the dead bats have white fungus around their faces, the illness has been dubbed "white-nose syndrome," but researchers believe the fungus to be a secondary symptom, and not the cause of the decline.

This past winter, white-nose syndrome was reported in 18 caves and mines in the affected states, according to Bat Conservation International, a bat advocacy and research organization in Austin, Texas. Bats afflicted with the syndrome are leaving their winter resting places - or hibernaculums - early in an apparent desperate search for food. The dead bats that have been recovered near the caves consistently are emaciated from losing their fat reserves needed to survive months of winter hibernation.

>>>FULL ARTICLE

Related Articles
>>>FWS-The White-Nose Syndrome Mystery
>>>Power Point presentation by Al Hicks, NY DEC [includes detailed maps and
photos]

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