Wildlife Disease News Digest

Goodbye Gorilla: Vaccine Urgently Needed
Live Science - www.livescience.com
17 Apr 2008
C Moskowitz
Photo courtesy of Associated Press
Area: Africa

If the usual threats of poaching and habitat loss weren't enough, gorillas face the added danger of a deadly disease that has been surging through their ranks. The highly-infectious Ebola virus has decimated huge swaths of the already diminished western lowland gorilla population. Scientists are in a race against time to protect these animals from the disease. Western lowland gorillas are the most common type of gorilla, but there are probably only between 50,000 and 100,000 left in the wild, all of them in the forests of the Congo basin in central Africa.

All other types of gorilla, including the cross river gorilla, the mountain gorilla, and the eastern lowland gorilla, total only a few thousand, and are also found in Africa. Over the past 20 to 25 years, hunting and disease alone have reduced the numbers of western lowland gorilla by 60 percent, according to the World Conservation Union (IUCN). "Throughout their range the great apes in central Africa are being hammered by those triple threats: loss of habitat, hunting for the bush meat trade, and disease," said Kenneth Cameron, a field veterinarian with the Wildlife Conservation Society in the Republic of the Congo, at the Gateways to Conservation 2008: The State of the Wild conference here this week.

>>>FULL ARTICLE

Bovine TB plan gets backing of AMs
Farmers Guardian - www.farmersguardian.com
16 Apr 2008
B Alston
Area: Wales United Kingdom

The ground-breaking Welsh Assembly three-year, £27 million bovine TB eradication programme, announced last week, has been given the backing of AMs. Voting in Tuesday’s Plenary Session was not, however, unanimous with 38 in favour, two abstentions and 12 against – 10 of which were Labour AMs largely representing urban constituencies. The proposals put forward by Rural Affairs Minister, Elin Jones, include badger culling in selected disease “hotspot” areas yet to be confirmed, a one-off TB test for every cattle herd in Wales, tighter on-farm biosecurity measures and a review of slaughter compensation rates. “The impact of bovine TB is unacceptable and unsustainable for Wales.

Simply trying to manage the disease, as we have been doing, is not only impossible, it is also irresponsible given the forecast future spread of the disease,” said the Minister. “I am very pleased there is agreement across political parties and importantly that it is recognised that the current situation is unacceptable. “There is no single solution to bovine TB. The approach to eradicate this disease has to be comprehensive, taking all factors into account,” she added. “There is simply no point tackling one source of infection and ignoring another. That would only allow the infection to return.

>>>FULL ARTICLE

Related News
>>>No badger cull site named yet
>>>No Action in Badger Culling
>>>RSPCA: Badger cull “a colossal mistake”

Millions Of Pounds Of Trash Found On Ocean Beaches
ScienceDaily - www.sciencedaily.com (Source: Ocean Conservancy)
17 Apr 2008
Photo courtesy of NOAA

Conservancy released its annual report on trash in the ocean with new data from the 2007 International Coastal Cleanup the most comprehensive snapshot of the harmful impacts of marine debris. The mission of Ocean Conservancy’s International Coastal Cleanup is to engage people to remove trash from the world’s beaches and waterways, to identify the sources of debris and to change the behaviors that cause pollution. This year, more than 378,000 volunteers participated in cleanups around every major body of water around the globe. Volunteers record the trash found on land and underwater allowing Ocean Conservancy a global snapshot of the problem.

. . . Trash in the ocean kills more than one million seabirds and 100,000 marine mammals and turtles each year through ingestion and entanglement. This year, 81 birds, 63 fish, 49 invertebrates, 30 mammals 11 reptiles and one amphibian were found entangled in debris by volunteers. Some of the debris they were entangled or had ingested include plastic bags, fishing line, fishing nets, six-pack holders, string from a balloon or kite, glass bottles and cans.

>>>FULL ARTICLE

Bird poisoning clampdown 'needed'
BBC News - news.bbc.co.uk
16 Apr 2008
Photo courtesy of RSPB/PA wire
Area: Scotland United Kingdom

More needs to be done to prevent the poisoning of birds of prey in Scotland, police and prosecution inspectors said. It said some parts of the country, such as Grampian and Tayside, had been working to clamp down on the illegal activity on lucrative grouse moors. The findings came after the Scottish Government announced a six-month review of wildlife crime. The joint publication of the report, by Her Majesty's Inspectorate of Constabulary and Inspectorate of Prosecution, also urged ministers to put a new national plan in place to combat the problem.

The review was launched by Environment Minister Mike Russell after several high-profile wildlife crime incidents in 2007 such as raptor poisoning, poaching and hare coursing. Its most controversial aspect was the impact of birds of prey in areas intensively managed for grouse shooting - where conservationists can clash with those running what is a multi-million pound Scottish industry. The inspectors' report stated: "Some success in preventing illegal activities had been made, most notably in Grampian and Tayside, by bringing together all relevant parties to form partnership groups. "In other parts of Scotland, little sustained progress was evident."

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Early Exposure To Common Weed Killer Impairs Amphibian Development
ScienceDaily - www.sciencedaily.com (Source: Tufts University)
16 Apr 2008

Tadpoles develop deformed hearts and impaired kidneys and digestive systems when exposed to the widely used herbicide atrazine in their early stages of life, according to research by Tufts University biologists. The results present a more comprehensive picture of how this common weed killer -- once thought to be harmless to animals -- disrupts growth of vital organs in amphibians during multiple growth periods. In recent years, worldwide amphibian population declines have fueled concerns over the potentially harmful effects of pesticides on "sentinel" organisms. Previous research had revealed negative effects of atrazine on amphibians extremely early and late in development.

The Tufts study, published in the February 2008 edition of "Environmental Health Perspectives," examined tadpoles during an often overlooked period of development, organ morphogenesis. Organ morphogenesis is a brief, extremely sensitive phase in the tadpoles' growth cycle when they are starting to develop organs, noted Kelly A. McLaughlin, Associate Professor of Biology and lead researcher in the study. She explained that experiments were designed to broaden the understanding of how chemicals affect biological growth in amphibians over multiple stages of development. A $5,000 Tufts University Faculty Research Marshall Grant helped fund the study.

>>>FULL ARTICLE

Wildlife Conservation Society to discuss health links between humans, animals
Palm Beach Daily News - www.palmbeachdailynews.com
17 Apr 2008
D Rogers

If there are six degrees of separation between actor Kevin Bacon and just about everyone else, there is an even closer connection between the health of humans and other animals. Dr. William B. Karesh, director of the Wildlife Conservation Society's field veterinary program, has traveled to Africa, Latin America and other spots around the globe for years tracking ailments that afflict wildlife. The society is based at the Bronx Zoo. Contrary to popular conception, many of these diseases can spread to humans.

"We built our health institutions on the same model of our academic institutions, which makes perfect sense for training people," Karesh said from New York. "You want people to be specialized in environmental health or animal health or human health, so that made a lot of sense. But in the world as it is today, there is really only one health because the diseases don't really care what species they get into." Karesh will discuss the health problems that arise when wildlife, humans and domestic animals interact at the Palm Beach Zoo's second Conservation Leadership Lecture today.

>>>FULL ARTICLE [includes audio]

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