Wildlife Disease News Digest

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Whales stranded off Madagascar
BBC News - news.bbc.co.uk
09 Jun 2008
J Hogg
Photo courtesy of AFP
Area: Madagascar - Map It

A mission is under way to rescue more than 100 whales trapped in a bay in the north of Madagascar. About 30 whales have already died and experts are being flown in from across the world. The site is near an area where ExxonMobil is carrying out seismic surveys but the oil company has denied any link. The first whale became stranded at the end of May and the first fatality was reported three days later.

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Related News
>>>Battle to save stranded dolphins - Map It

Toxic Algal Blooms May Cause Seizures In California Sea Lions
ScienceDaily - www.sciencedaily.com (Source: NOAA)
09 Jun 2008
Area: California United States

Scientists, reporting in the current issue of the online journal Marine Drugs, state that an increase of epileptic seizures and behavioral abnormalities in California sea lions can result from low-dose exposure to domoic acid as a fetus. The findings follow an analysis earlier this year led by Frances Gulland of the California Marine Mammal Center that showed this brain disturbance to be a newly recognized chronic disease. John Ramsdell of NOAA's Center for Environmental Health and Biomolecular Research in Charleston, SC, in partnership with Tanja Zabka, a veterinary pathologist at the Marine Mammal Center, conducted the first-of-its kind analysis of poisoning by the algal toxin, domoic acid, during fetal brain development. The results, analyzed across multiple animal species, point to the toxin as a cause for behavioral changes and epilepsy that does not become evident until later in life.

Domoic acid is produced by harmful algal blooms. The algae is consumed by fish such as sardines, herring and anchovies, a significant part of the sea lion diet. Exposure during pregnancy concentrates the domoic acid toxin in the mother's amniotic fluid, which normally protects and aids in the growth of a fetus. In sea lions exposed to domoic acid, the fluid retains the toxin, thus subjecting the fetus to repeated direct absorption through immature skin cells and swallowing during gestation.

>>>FULL ARTICLE

Cited Journal Article
>>>In Utero Domoic Acid Toxicity: A Fetal Basis to Adult Disease in
the California Sea Lion (Zalophus californianus. Mar. Drugs. 2008 June 06; 6: 262-290.

Reported Wildlife Mortality Events to the USGS National Wildlife Health Center Updated
USGS National Wildlife Health Center
09 Jun 2008
Area: United States

USGS and a network of partners across the country work on documenting wildlife mortality events in order to provide timely and accurate information on locations, species and causes of death. This information was updated on June 06, 2008 on the USGS National Wildlife Health Center web page, New and Ongoing Wildlife Mortality Events Nationwide. Quarterly Mortality Reports are also available from this page. These reports go back to 1995.

>>> Updated Wildlife Mortality Event Table

Natural lab shows sea's acid path
BBC News - news.bbc.co.uk
08 Jun 2008
R Black

Natural carbon dioxide vents on the sea floor are showing scientists how carbon emissions will affect marine life. Dissolved CO2 makes water more acidic, and around the vents, researchers saw a fall in species numbers, and snails with their shells disintegrating. Writing in the journal Nature, the UK scientists suggest these impacts are likely to be seen across the world as CO2 levels rise in the atmosphere. Some of the extra CO2 emitted enters the oceans, acidifying waters globally.

Studies show that the seas have become more acidic since the industrial revolution. Research leader Jason Hall-Spencer from the University of Plymouth said that atmospheric CO2 concentrations were now so high that even a sharp fall in emissions would not prevent some further acidification. "It's clear that marine food webs as we know them are going to alter, and biodiversity will decrease," he told BBC News. "Those impacts are inevitable because acidification is inevitable - we've started it, and we can't stop it."

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The Plan to Keep Fish Disease Out of Lake Superior
TheFishSite.com - www.thefishsite.com
05 Jun 2008
Area: United States

A Michigan Technological University professor has developed a new water treatment that could help keep a deadly fish disease out of Lake Superior.

David Hand, a professor of civil and environmental engineering at Michigan Tech, has devised a simple way to treat ballast water in vessels ranging from pleasure craft to ore boats. His method is designed to kill the virus that causes viral hemorrhagic septicemia (VHS), an often-fatal disease that has been attacking fish populations in the lower Great Lakes. Hand's treatment is simple. The ballast water is disinfected with sodium hypochlorite—ordinary household bleach. Then it is treated with ascorbic acid, or vitamin C, which neutralizes the bleach before the water is released into the lake.

With good initial results, Hand has tested his method on the Ranger III, a National Park Service vessel that shuttles visitors and staff between the mainland and Isle Royale National Park. In the next few weeks, the Great Ships Initiative will conduct independent lab tests on his system at the University of Wisconsin–Superior to help determine if it is safe, effective and inexpensive. Other partners in the effort are the National Park Service and the US Fish and Wildlife Service. "VHS has had a devastating effect on the musky population in Lake St. Clair and affects 23 species of game fish," said Phyllis Green, superintendent of Isle Royale National Park and the midwest coordinator of the park service's VHS Prevention Team.

>>>FULL ARTICLE

OTHER WILDLIFE RELATED HEALTH NEWS
Photo courtesy of Tony Cheng/Associated Press