TOP STORIES
California otter population on a downward trend: Disease, lack of food taking toll
Monterey County Herald (source: Mercury News - www.mercurynews.com)
05 Mar 2009
L Agha
An assortment of factors suggests California's sea otter population is in decline, according to officials at The Otter Project.
Factoring in several surveys, including the fall population count that turned up fewer otters than the previous fall's count, officials for the sea otter advocacy group released a 2008 status report that indicates a downward trend in the local otter population.
"It doesn't get into the why at all, it's just an indicator there is a problem," Otter Project Executive Director Steve Shimek said Wednesday. The why, Shimek said, is likely due to diminished food supply and increased susceptibility to disease.
Official analysis of the otter population is based on the U.S. Geological Survey's running three-year average of population counts made in the spring. The three-year average of 2,826 counted otters from 2006 to 2008 was a 0.3 percent increase over the previous three-year average from 2005 to 2007.
Death of elephant is focus of report: Staph infection had animal, human links
Union-Tribune (source: Sign on SanDiego.com - www3.signonsandiego.com)
06 Mar 2009
K Darcé
The case of a baby elephant that was euthanized last year at the Wild Animal Park has produced two national firsts: the first reported instance of a staph infection in a zoo elephant and the first time researchers have documented transmission from a zoo animal to a human caretaker.
Investigators said it's likely the pachyderm, already malnourished because its mother couldn't feed it properly, picked up the antibiotic-resistant bacteria from a zookeeper.
Five of the park's staff members tested positive for the infection, and investigators said four of them likely contracted it from the elephant.
March Science Picks -- Leads, Feeds and Story Seeds
USGS Newsroom - www.usgs.gov
06 Mar 2009
Items of note
- Harvest of Horseshoe Crabs Threatens Shorebird Survival
- How Do You Give a Manatee a Physical?
- Aircraft and Birds Learning to Share the Sky
LAST WEEK'S TOP READ LINKS
- Fleshing-eating disease is killing possums
- Alaskans witness startling increase of beak deformities among birds
- Experts work to combat deadly amphibian fungus
- Pink dolphin appears in US lake
- The role of infectious diseases in biological conservation [journal article]
- How TB Jumps From Humans to Wildlife -- Vet Seeks Clues
- Biologists fear bat deaths' broader effect
- Infectious diseases from Animals to Humans
- Lead Bullets [how lead bullets are poisoning wildlife] [video: 2 min 52 sec]
- Diseases rapidly increasing in a warming world
Photo courtesy of NPR
For Seals On Facebook, 'It's Complicated'- The week in wildlife
- Bees disease [video sec 41]
- Lead bullet ban shows success: Condors get poisoning from game animals
- Sea Otters Can Hold Hands [shamelessly cute video - 1 min 40 sec]
- In Fla., Scientists Use Magnets To Disorient Crocs
- "Bat Box" Heaters Could Save Animals' Lives [white-nosed syndrome]
- More whoopers die: Most likely culprit is lack of food; 34 more are unaccounted for
- Bighorn battle could doom sheep ranchers
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