Wildlife Disease News Digest

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Post-mortem examines turtle death
BBC News - news.bbc.co.uk
03 Jun 2008
AM Lever
Photo courtesy of Blue Reef Aquarium
Area: United Kingdom - Map It

"There have been an unprecedented number of loggerhead turtle strandings this year; 18 have been recorded so far on the UK coast," Rod Penrose explains. Marine Environmental Monitoring has received several calls from coastguards and walkers along the South Coast reporting turtles being washed up. Mr Penrose, the UK and Eire's turtle strandings coordinator, says: "Strandings have been reported from Cornwall to Wales and islands off Scotland." Loggerheads (Caretta caretta) are categorised as endangered on the internationally recognised Red List of Threatened Species. They breed on the northwest Atlantic, Gulf of Mexico and Caribbean coasts.

Determining why these rare turtles are arriving on UK shores can be very difficult unless a post-mortem is undertaken. "We carry out a standard series of observations and tests," says Mr Rob Deaville, a cetacean expert at the Zoological Society of London (ZSL). He adds: "An external examination will reveal if the animal has suffered any trauma or damage in the past. "A depleted fat layer and the wasting away of muscle can suggest starvation as a result of cold-shock.

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USDA and Colorado State University Researchers Develop First Live Test for Chronic Wasting Disease in Elk [Press Release]
USDA - APHIS - www.aphis.usda.gov
30 May 2008
Area: Colorado United States

Researchers from the U.S. Department of Agriculture’s Animal and Plant Health Inspection Service (APHIS) and Colorado State University (CSU) recently completed their third year of evaluating and validating the first live rectal-tissue biopsy method for detecting chronic wasting disease (CWD) in captive and wild elk. To date, researchers have collected over 1,500 biopsies from captive elk in Colorado and used the technique to find 15 elk that were positive for CWD. As compared to proven post-mortem diagnostic tests, this live test appears to be nearly as accurate. “The key advantage to the rectal biopsy test is that it can be performed on live animals.

Until now, there was no practical live test for CWD in elk,” said research wildlife biologist Dr. Kurt VerCauteren with APHIS’ Wildlife Services (WS) National Wildlife Research Center (NWRC). “With this technique we can detect CWD in animals not showing any signs of the disease and, thus, remove them so they are not left to infect other individuals and further contaminate the environment.” The research is a collaborative effort between APHIS’ WS and Veterinary Services programs, the Agricultural Research Service, and the Colorado State University Veterinary Diagnostic Laboratory within the College of Veterinary Medicine and Biomedical Sciences. The majority of the research was conducted on the Velvet Ridge Elk Ranch, owned by Dennis and Stephanie White, near Fort Collins, Colo.

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Crews to survey local rivers to find lamprey
Petosky News Service - www.petoskeynews.com
03 Jun 2008
Area: United States

The continuing battle against sea lampreys soon will come to locations in the local area. A U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service assessment crew will conduct work in the Bear and Leland rivers in Emmet and Leelanau counties during June 11-18 to detect the presence of lampreys in the streams. The information gathered will be used to determine the need for sea lamprey control. A first step in the control of sea lampreys is to survey streams tributary to the Great Lakes to determine the presence of larval sea lampreys. Sea lampreys invaded the Great Lakes in the 1920s and have been a permanent, destructive element of the fishery ever since.

Sea lampreys attach to fish with a suction cup mouth, rasp a hole through the fish’s scales and skin, and feed on blood and body fluids. The average sea lamprey will destroy up to 40 pounds of fish during its parasitic phase. Sea lamprey larvae hatch from eggs laid by adult lampreys in gravel nests, and drift into silty bottom areas where they burrow and live for several years. Also, larvae sometimes drift out of streams and settle in the immediate offshore areas near stream mouths.

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Trapping increase planned to stop spread of rabies into Canada
Burlington Free Press - www.burlingtonfreepress.com
02 Jun 2008
Area: Vermont United States

Wildlife officials say they have plan to increase trapping raccoons, skunks and foxes in Grand Isle, Franklin and Orleans counties as a more aggressive approach to stopping the spread of rabies across the Canadian border. Officials from the U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) are working to trap, vaccinate and release (TVR) as many raccoons and skunks as possible in the three primary counties. The goal is to vaccinate approximately 65 percent of the raccoon population within the TVR zones. Raccoons accounted for 103 of the 165 rabies-positive animals tested by the Health Department in 2007, with 85 cases located in Franklin County. In 2006, 73 rabies cases were confirmed, an increase from 59 cases in 2005.

The rise over the last three years is due, in part, to enhanced surveillance and trapping efforts. More than 1,200 animals, mostly raccoons, were trapped and vaccinated last year. “We are working with Canadian officials to try to cover the northern border counties in three areas where we have had positive cases,” said Martha Pitt, a USDA wildlife biologist. “In order to help protect the public’s health, we will euthanize any animals that we suspect are rabid.”

>>>FULL ARTICLE

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Photo courtesy of The West Australian