Wildlife Disease News Digest

TOP STORIES

As Ocean Warms, Coral Loses Anchor in Acidic Waters
Scientific American - www.sciam.com
28 Jul 2008
D Biello
Photo courtesy of TB Smith

Coral reefs can't find a strong purchase in the eastern tropical Pacific thanks to more acidic waters--a potential precursor of what the ocean will be like under global warming. A new study confirms that coral reefs could become yet another casualty of climate change if something is not done to cool the warming globe. The reason: marine cements that bind together reefs can't form in waters full of dissolved carbon dioxide (CO2). Those off the west coast of Central America, particularly around the Galapagos Islands, are kept soft by the more acidic waters in that region—and may provide an early look at how coral reefs will fare in the rest of the world as atmospheric CO2 levels rise.

>>>FULL ARTICLE

Intersex fish: Causes may be many
WTOP News - www.wtopnews.com
28 Jul 2008
N Augenstein
Image courtesy of Lainie Frost/WTOP
Area: United States

To the naked eye, the smallmouth bass lying before biologist Vicki Blazer looks normal and healthy. If it had not been caught in the Shenandoah River and anesthetized here at the U.S. Geological Survey's fish lab, it would most likely have lived its full lifespan of 18 years. You wouldn't know from looking at it, but the brown male smallmouth bass also has the sex characteristics of a female bass -- and represents a microcosm of how unknown contaminants in waterways are altering the physiology of creatures that live in them. Blazer came across the unusual fish while trying to figure out why 80 percent of the Shenandoah's smallmouth bass and sunfish had died.

>>>FULL ARTICLE [includes photo gallery and audio (Troubled waters, Part 1)]

>>>VIDEO

Wildlife so far largely safe from Mississippi River oil spill
San Francisco Chronicle - www.sfgate.com (Source: Associated Press)
27 Jul 2008
J McConnaughey
Area: Louisiana United States - Map It

. . . A tanker and a barge collided early Wednesday, spilling about 419,000 gallons of fuel oil from the barge, closing the river from New Orleans to the Gulf of Mexico and temporarily blocking passage by about 200 oil supertankers, grain barges and other vessels. The U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service had reports of almost 60 animals coated with oil, mostly ducks and wading birds, regional spokesman Tom MacKenzie said Saturday. Officials said they had reports of only limited effect on stretches of the winding river fronted by levees topped with rocky cover, concrete mats and other anti-erosion materials. But MacKenzie cautioned that canvassing such a vast area was a tall challenge and probably only a fraction of the affected wildlife had been spotted.

>>>FULL ARTICLE

SKorea cat had bird flu: officials
AFP - afp.google.com
28 July 2008
Area: South Korea

A cat found dead in a South Korean city was infected with a virulent strain of bird flu, the first mammal in the country known to have had the H5N1 virus, health officials said on Tuesday. They said it was the first report of a cat having had the virus since a case in Thailand in 1996, but that there was little risk to humans as there has never been a known transmission of the virus from a cat to other mammals. "It is quite rare for a cat to be infected by the avian flu virus," said Cho Hyun-Ho, a deputy director of the National Veterinary Research and Quarantine Service. Cats and dogs are usually not susceptible to the virus, so quarantine officials only normally check animals that have regular contact with birds.

>>>FULL ARTICLE

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Rarely seen beaked whale dies on Molokai
KHON News - www.khon2.com
28 Jul 2008
M Yamane
Area: Molokai, Hawaii United States - Map It

A rarely seen sea mammal beached itself on Molokai today. Residents and visitors made numerous attempts to save the beaked whale, but late this afternoon, the animal had to be euthanized. Beaked whales sort of looks like dolphins. They usually spend their time deep in the ocean, so you wouldn't usually see them if you went whale watching. We spoke with Drew Murphy of Aina Haina and his daughter Maile -- who tried to help save the 2000-pound animal. Around 7 o'clock Monday morning, Drew Murphy spotted the beaked whale while he was kayaking, about 4 1/2 miles east of Kaunakakai.

>>>FULL ARTICLE

Scientists solve riddle of toxic algae blooms
Times Colonist - www.canada.com
22 Jul 2008
E Struzik

. . . After a remarkable 37-year experiment, University of Alberta scientist David Schindler and his colleagues have finally nailed down the chemical triggers for a problem that plagues thousands of freshwater and coastal ecosystems around the world. By pumping various pollutants into Lake 227, a small pristine lake in the Experimental Lakes region of northern Ontario, they were able to pin down which chemical nutrients were key to triggering the blooms. "Phosphorous really is the key," says Schindler, whose study is highlighted in the U.S.-based Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences this week. "Here in Alberta, it is especially important because the phosphorous content in the soil is naturally high, so you don't have to add a lot to create a serious problem."

>>>FULL ARTICLE

OTHER WILDLIFE HEALTH RELATED NEWS
Image courtesy of A Zitzmann