Wildlife Disease News Digest

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Amphibians facing a wipeout by 2050
Times Online - timesonline.co.uk
26 Sep 2008
L Smith
Photo courtesy of Times Online

Sir David Attenborough has joined scientists in an alert on how climate change and disease may lead to extinction

Half of Europe’s amphibian species could be wiped out in the next 40 years. Scientists from the Zoological Society of London say that the combined force of climate change, pollution, disease and habitat loss and degradation has left many with “nowhere to run”. After assessing the amphibians’ prospects, they predicted that more than 50 per cent of the 81 species native to Europe faced extinction by 2050.

>>>FULL ARTICLE

Related News
>>>Amphibian annihilation: "Gloomy assessment from zoological society" [Audio]
>>>Europe's amphibians at risk [photo gallery]

Dolphin found dead on beach had pneumonia for months
New Jersey News - www.nj.com
26 Sep 2008
M Spoto

The dead dolphin that washed ashore in Fair Haven had pneumonia and showed symptoms of the illness nearly three months ago, officials said yesterday. Without complete necropsy results, animal rescuers and federal wildlife officials cannot definitively say whether the pulmonary condition caused the death of the young bottlenose dolphin. But they said the preliminary finding will be useful in trying to determine whether other members of its pod are at risk for the same fate.

After the dolphin was found early Wednesday morning on a beach on the Navesink River, tensions reignited between the rescuers, who want the mammals moved to the ocean as soon as possible, and officials of the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, who want to let the animals find their own way to the ocean

Moving the pod without knowing the cause of death of this dolphin could put other marine life at risk "if it's something that can be introduced if we move them somewhere else," Frady said.

>>>FULL ARTICLE

Saving Sea Lions [Leptospirosis]
KQED Radio - www.kqed.com
29 Sep 2008
A Standen

As emblematic of Northern California as cable cars and cracked crab, sea lions are a big attraction at San Francisco's Pier 39 and Monterey's Cannery Row. But many of these animals are getting sick from a bacterial infection that seems to be on the rise this year.

>>>TO AUDIO BROADCAST

MCPA tightens rules on ballast water, invasive species
Minnesota Independent - www.minnesotaindependent.com
24 Sep 2008
T Elko
Photo courtesy of Minnesota Independent

The Minnesota Pollution Control Authority (MPCA) citizen board voted 6-0 to move ahead with regulations on discharge of untreated ballast in state waters on Tuesday. The new rules put in place a permitting process for ballast discharges in Lake Superior and require ships to clean and treat their ballasts before entering the lake by 2016...Many Great Lakes advocates remain skeptical of the EPA’s ballast efforts and believe the MPCA’s action is necessary to protect state resources from the onslaught of viral hemorrhagic septicemia (VHS) and other invasives that have yet to arrive in Minnesota.

>>>FULL STORY

Two foxes test positive for rabies in Hornbrook
Siskiyou Daily News - www.siskiyoudailynews.com
24 Sep 2008
Area: Hornbrook, California - Map It

The Siskiyou County Public Health and Community Development Department issued a press release alerting residents of the R-Ranch Campground on the Klamath River and surrounding areas that a second fox tested positive for rabies on Sept. 19. The Siskiyou County Public Health and Community Development Department is seeking any information on potential exposures to humans or other pets and wildlife in the area.

>>>FULL ARTICLE

More Rabies News
>>>Rabies Vaccine to Be Airdropped beginning Sept. 26

OTHER WILDLIFE HEALTH RELATED NEWS
Photo courtesy of The Week in Wildlife - guardian.co.uk

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