TOP STORIES
Study Rules Out Inbreeding As Cause Of Amphibian Deformities
ScienceDaily - www.sciencedaily.com (Source: Purdue University)
28 Oct 2008
Image courtesy of Purdue University Forestry and Natural Resources
Although research has linked inbreeding with elevated rates of deformity in a wide variety of animals, a new study finds it plays no part in the high incidence of malformation among salamanders. . . . "Amphibians are a good bio-indicator species - real canaries in the coal mine," Williams said. Amphibians are more heavily impacted by water pollutants because of their semipermeable skin. Many species also begin life in water, where they risk contaminant exposure during their most vulnerable years, Williams said. The reason for high rates of deformation in salamanders, frogs and other amphibians remains a mystery, DeWoody said. With inbreeding ruled out, however, environmental factors like parasites, ultraviolet radiation and water pollution remain prime suspects, he said.
How did moose get CWD?
Jackson Hole News & Guide - www.jhnewsandguide.com
29 Oct 2008
C Hatch
Area: Wyoming, United States
Star Valley deer, elk likely have the disease as well.
Chronic wasting disease has likely infected Star Valley deer and elk herds, and the best option to slow its spread is to phase out feedgrounds in northwest Wyoming, a federal disease expert said Tuesday. Tom Roffe, chief of wildlife health and a veterinarian for the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service in Bozeman, Mont., made the comments a week and four days after Wyoming Game and Fish officials announced they found CWD in a moose near Bedford. The town in Star Valley is about 40 miles south of Jackson and the National Elk Refuge. Game and Fish found the moose in February about 13 miles from the nearest state-run winter elk feedground. CWD wasn’t discovered in samples until recently, the state agency said.
>>>DNR wants hunters' help this season [Michigan, USA]
>>>Drop off centres for hunters [Alberta, Canada]
DEET, chemicals found in Colorado’s water supplies The Reporter-Herald - www.reporterherald.com
29 Oct 2008
P Dickman
Area: Colorado, United States
. . . “With West Nile virus raging through Colorado, we’re seeing a lot of DEET in the water,” Battaglin aid. DEET, N,N-diethyl-3-methylbenzamide, is a chemical in mosquito repellents that is recommended to protect against West Nile virus. Tests also have found high levels of caffeine in water and the prescription antidepressant Prozac in sediment. “If you want to get your dose of Prozac, you’re going to have to eat the dirt,” Battaglin joked. But all joking aside, he reiterated that drugs and substances leaching from waste into water supplies is a very serious matter. Nonylphenol, potentially toxic to fish and wildlife, has been found in enough water supplies that Colorado adopted new standards that will be in place in 2010.
Disappearing Corals Gain Greater Protection From Human Threats; Federal Government Bans Activities That Harm Florida's Coral Reefs [Press Release]
Center for Biological Diversity - www.biologicaldiversity.org
28 Oct 2008
The federal government today finalized a rule prohibiting activities that kill or harm elkhorn and staghorn corals, which are listed as threatened under the Endangered Species Act. . . . In response to a petition from the Center for Biological Diversity, elkhorn and staghorn corals in 2006 became the first species to be protected under the Endangered Species Act due to the threat of global warming and ocean acidification. Once the most abundant and important reef-building corals in Florida and the Caribbean, staghorn and elkhorn corals have declined by upwards of 90 percent in many areas, mainly as a result of disease and “bleaching,” an often-fatal stress response to abnormally high water temperatures in which corals expel the symbiotic algae that give them color.
OTHER WILDLIFE HEALTH RELATED NEWS
Image courtesy of BBC News - news.bbc.co.uk
Pictured: Earth on course for eco 'crunch'- Dams Appear to Have No Impact on Salmon
- Climate Change and Commercial Fishing: A One-Two Punch for Sea Turtles [PDF]
- Report details threats to Inlet belugas
- Bush Adminstration Proposes Second Interagency Group for Bison
- China's panda twins
- Catching birds to stop the flu
- Bluetongue - Europe (66): Netherlands, BTV-6 vaccine strain susp
WILDLIFE HEALTH RELATED PUBLICATIONS
Journal of Wildlife Diseases - Oct 2008
Volume 44, Number 4
Bluetongue epidemiology in wild ruminants from Southern Spain
European Journal of Wildlife Research. 2008; Epub ahead of print [online
abstract only]
I García et al.
Poxviral Disease in Red Squirrels Sciurus vulgaris in the UK: Spatial and
Temporal Trends of an Emerging Threat
Ecohealth. 2008. Epub ahead of print [online abstract only]
AW Sainsbury et al.
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