August 8, 2008

TOP STORIES

Harbor porpoise deaths climbing as cause remains unknown
The Mercury News - www.mercurynews.com
2 Aug 2008
J Scott
Image courtesy of Mercury News

A large number of dead harbor porpoises have been washing up on beaches in San Mateo County and elsewhere in the Bay Area this summer, and marine mammal experts are at a loss to explain what could be killing them.

A total of 24 harbor porpoises — 12 males, 9 females, and three still in utero — have been discovered by beachcombers since early June, according to the Marine Mammal Center in Sausalito. More carcasses are likely to show up in August. "It's the tip of the iceberg. These are open ocean animals. For every one we find dead there are probably many others that are out there," said Mary Jane Schramm, spokeswoman for the Gulf of the Farallones National Marine Sanctuary.




Condor Rescue Program in Danger of Failure
ScienceNOW Daily News - sciencenow.sciencemag.org
6 Aug 2008
D Malakoff
Image courtesy of WIKIPEDIA

Get the lead out: Removing the poisonous metal from bullets and shotgun pellets is the only way to save the highly endangered California Condor, according to a scientific review released today. Otherwise, one of the nation's most expensive and controversial efforts to save a species from extinction may fail.

The report also recommends that hunters be encouraged to kill more wild game and pigs to create the carcasses on which the condors feed. The condor--North America's largest bird, with a 3-meter wingspan--was nearly extinct when government biologists captured the last few wild birds in the early 1980s.



Capturing Deer Safely With Minimal Trauma Using New Apparatus
ScienceDaily - www.sciencedaily.com
6 Aug 2008
Photo courtesy of Mat Pound, USDA-ARS

A portable device that allows researchers to humanely trap deer and other wildlife as part of field studies to control ticks and other parasites has been developed by an Agricultural Research Service (ARS) scientist.

The apparatus, developed by ARS entomologist Mat Pound in Kerrville, Texas, effectively restrains wildlife with minimal trauma to the animal. It will permit wildlife biologists and other researchers to quickly capture and handle deer, other wild exotic animals and small livestock such as sheep and goats with minimal stress to the animal.



Fish disease spreading throughout Great Lakes
Lake County Journals - www.lakecountyjournals.com
6 Aug 2008
Area: Lake County, Illinois, USA - Map It

Viral Hemorrhagic Septicemia is a disease of fish caused by an aquatic virus previously unidentified in the Midwest. While it does not affect humans, VHS can kill a substantial number of fish and has been spreading throughout the Great Lakes. Although VHS has been confirmed in Lake Michigan, it has not spread to inland lakes. Bangs Lake has not been infected with VHS.

The Lakes Management Unit of the Lake County Health Department and the Illinois Department of Natural Resources are encouraging recreational anglers and boaters to help control the spread of this disease.



It's no croak – frogs and toads are at risk
The Evening Telegraph - www.peterboroughtoday.co.uk
6 Aug 2008
T Dundo

GARDEN ponds wouldn't be the same without an army of frogs frolicking through the water and letting out the odd "ribbet". But the small amphibians, along with toads and newts, are in danger of croaking it from two potential killer diseases brought in from America.

In a desperate bid to expand on vital research into the state of the city’s and nation’s amphibians, conservation charities Hampton-based Froglife and the Zoological Society of London (ZSL) are calling for the public to look out for and report cases of sick and dead frogs.



OTHER WILDLIFE HEALTH NEWS
Photo courtesy of Telegraph.co.uk


National Bio and Agro-Defense Facility (NBAF)

West Nile Virus News

at Friday, August 08, 2008

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