Wildlife Disease News Digest

TOP STORIES

Wildlife disease debate heats up
Casper Star-Tribune - www.trib.com
20 Oct 2008
C Merrill
Image courtesy of Mark Gocke
Area: Bridger-Teton National Forest, Wyoming, USA

At the heart of the story are a sick moose, a regional forester, a state agency, a mutated protein and five conservation organizations. And they all could influence, in different ways, the future of elk feedgrounds in Wyoming. A regional forester has decided to uphold Bridger-Teton National Forest Supervisor Kniffy Hamilton's decision to allow the Wyoming Game and Fish Department to continue operating elk feedgrounds on the national forest for at least 20 years, an agency spokeswoman announced Monday. The decision had been appealed by five conservation groups that cited, among other things, fears about potential harm to Bridger-Teton soils and water supplies from the spread of chronic wasting disease to the feedgrounds.

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Deep in the Rain Forest, Stalking the Next Pandemic
New York Times - www.nytimes.com
20 Oct 2008
E Svoboda

For Nathan Wolfe, a 38-year-old visiting professor at Stanford, an ordinary workday can look like a clip from “Survivor” — chasing primate hunters through the dense foliage of rural Cameroon, sloshing through mud and streams, dodging branches and malaria-carrying mosquitoes. Dr. Wolfe says he enjoys the adventure. But he has a broader purpose: staving off global pandemics before they happen. The subsistence, or “bushmeat,” hunters he tracks face a singular occupational hazard: their blood often mingles with that of their prey.

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Dolphin deaths double; algae suspected
Florida Today - www.floridatoday.com
21 Oct 2008
J Waymer
Area: Indian River, Brevard County - Map It

and Volusia County - Map It

, Florida, USA

Experts stumped on what killed 50 in lagoon since May

Fifty bottlenose dolphins died in the Indian River Lagoon in just over five months, about twice the usual rate. Nobody knows why, only that red tide is unlikely. Another toxic algae is a lead suspect, but not thought the sole culprit. Several other algae, a disease or pollution could be conspiring together. But the good news is the die-off that began May 3 seems over, for now.

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Norway's lesson in salmon protection
BBC News - news.bbc.co.uk
20 Oct 2008
L Gordon
Area: Ogna, Rogaland County, Norway - Map It

On the River Ogna in Central Norway a small group of local anglers have cast aside their rods and are using nets to save as many fish as they can. The salmon and trout tangled in their green netting are the lucky ones. They're disinfected in a tank of salty water and then moved to safety. The fish which got away are about to die, when officials dose 18 km of the river here with poison. They're trying to kill off a parasite called Gyrodactylus Salaris (Gs).

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