TOP STORIES
New Virus Killer at the Zoo
San Diego Weekly Reader - www.sandiegoreader.com
17 Dec 2008
M Potter
Area: San Diego, California, United States - Map It 
When a 12-year-old polar bear at the San Diego Zoo died of unknown causes a year ago last July, a team of investigators, led by Dr. Mark D. Schrenzel of the zoo’s Center of Research for Endangered Species, was quickly called into the case. A veterinary pathologist who has a degree in veterinary medicine and a Ph.D. in comparative pathology, Schrenzel heads the center’s molecular diagnostics laboratory at the San Diego Wild Animal Park, where the DNA of a mysterious virus found in tissue samples of the dead polar bear was minutely analyzed using cloning and sequencing techniques available at only a few veterinary labs in the world. What Schrenzel and his team discovered was big news to scientists: a little-understood variation of a herpes virus common in Grevy’s zebras and other horse-related animals had somehow found its way into the polar bear and killed it.
White-tailed Deer in Portage County Tests Positive for CWD
WGBA 26 News - www.nbc26.com
17 Dec 2008
Area: Portage County, Wisconsin, USA - Map It
A second white-tailed deer has tested positive for chronic wasting disease, from a herd of deer that were euthanized in November on a Portage County hunting preserve. The first CWD-positive deer, a 7½-year-old doe, was discovered during routine testing after it was shot in September. That discovery led to destroying the herd so the rest of the deer could be tested. The second positive deer is a 3½-year-old doe. Wildlife specialists from the U.S. Department of Agriculture Wildlife Services shot 64 deer at Alligator Creek Whitetails LLC near Junction City, beginning Wednesday, Nov. 12, and finishing Tuesday, Nov. 18.
U.S. squirrels pushing relatives out of BritainUSA Today - www.usatoday.com
17 Dec 2008
J Stinson
Photo credit: Dan Kitwood, Getty Images
Across northern England and Scotland, a do-or-die battle is being waged against an aggressive American invader. Britons are desperately trying to stem a northern march by the American gray squirrel, which threatens Britain's native red squirrel by destroying its habitat and spreading disease. The situation is so dire that the government and wildlife groups have called trappers and hunters, scientists, Prince Charles — and even chefs with squirrel recipes — into a campaign against the grays. They've created sanctuaries for the red squirrels and enlisted volunteer spotters to look out for the destructive invader.
OTHER WILDLIFE HEALTH RELATED NEWS
Photo credit: Jan Krux
U.S. Declares 6 Penguin Species Threatened- North Dakota Could Lift TB Ban on Minnesota
- Madagascar's Lemurs thrive
- Park officials offer elk management options [North Dakota]
- Ferret unfazed by big debut [Colorado]
- Migratory birds face peril in Lebanon sanctuary
- Bird flu spreads to seventh district in Assam [India]
- India seals part of Bangladesh border over bird flu
WILDLIFE HEALTH RELATED PUBLICATIONS
Avian Diseases - December 2008
Volume 52, Number 4
Transmissible spongiform encephalopathies
Journal of the American Veterinary Medical Association. 2008 Dec 01; 233 (11): 1705-1712
JJ Sejvar et al.
Do crocodilians get the flu? Looking for influenza A in captive crocodilians.
J Exp Zool Part A Ecol Genet Physiol. 2008 Dec 1;309(10):571-80.
LM Davis and E Spackman
Tasmanian devil facial tumour disease: lessons for conservation biology
Trends in Ecology & Evolution. 2008 Nov; 23 (11):Pages 631-637
H McCallum
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