Wildlife Disease News Digest

TOP STORIES

Boreal owl deaths a mystery to Fairbanks bird experts
Daily News-Miner - newsminer.com
16 Apr 2009
T Mowry
Photo credit: John Wagner
Area: Fairbanks, Fairbanks North Star County, Alaska - Map It

When a boreal owl showed up at Gary Hinzman’s house a few weeks ago, he and his family were excited about the prospect of the owl nesting near their home.

Their excitement faded a few days later when Hinzman found the little owl dead in a barn near the house.

“What a bummer,” Sally Hinzman stated in an e-mail. “We were hoping it was nesting nearby.”

Unbeknownst to the Hinzmans, who turned the dead owl over to family friend Philip Martin, who works for the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, the bird was one of a half dozen boreal owls that have been found dead around Fairbanks in the past few weeks.

>>>FULL ARTICLE

Herbicide drainage harms reef
ScienceAlert - www.sciencealert.com.au (James Cook University)
14 Apr 2009
Photo credit: iStockphoto
Area: Great Barrier Reef, Australia

A comprehensive research program investigating pesticide residue run-off has revealed a suite of herbicides in rivers and creeks and in marine waters within the Great Barrier Reef lagoon.

The runoff of pesticide residues were monitored in the Tully-Murray, Burdekin-Townsville and Mackay Whitsunday Regions over four wet seasons (2005-2008), with a focus on key land uses within these regions.

The land uses include sugar cane, grazing, horticulture, urban and natural/conservation.

Dr Stephen Lewis from the Australian Centre for Tropical Freshwater Research (ACTFR) at James Cook University (JCU) said that the results show that a suite of herbicides including diuron, atrazine, ametryn and hexazinone have been commonly detected in waterways draining sugar cane lands.

>>>FULL ARTICLE

Yellow fever - South America (26): Brazil (PA), monkeys, susp. - Archive Number 20090414.1424
ProMED-mail - www.promedmail.org
11 Apr 2009
Area: Ribeirao Claro, Parana, Brazil - Map It

Teams from the National Health Foundation (FUNASA) are conducting investigations in the Norte Pioneiro in Parana [state], near the municipality of Ribeirao Claro, to investigate the death of a group of monkeys. The initial suspicions are that the animals were victims of yellow fever, and technicians are collecting samples of _Haemagogus_ mosquitoes, [the vector] responsible for [the sylvan (jungle) cycle of] transmission of the disease [virus].

The State Secretariat of Health is advising the population not to take yellow fever vaccine, since a vaccination campaign was done in 1999, and a new dose could cause reactions. Cases of yellow fever have not been recorded in Norte Pioneiro in Parana for 23 years.

>>>FULL POSTING

NRB member fears CWD could spread
Wisconsin State Journal - www.madison.com/wsj
15 Apr 2009
T Eisele
Photo credit: Tim Eisele
Area: Wisconsin

Migrating birds such as the garden warbler and whitethroat will face longer journeys because of climate change, experts warned today.

Sometimes it takes the tail to wag the dog, but what’s important is whether the dog is prodded into action.

In this case the “tail” is the Natural Resources Board, a citizen board that sets policy and approves rules and regulations for the Department of Natural Resources (DNR). State government, and particularly the DNR, is the “dog,” being prodded to increase its efforts and look for more resources to combat chronic wasting disease (CWD) in Wisconsin.

The prod came during Board meetings in January, February and March, when Dave Clausen, Board member from Amery, voiced his concerns that Wisconsin’s wild deer herd could be further exposed to CWD.

>>>FULL ARTICLE

Frontline Examines Newest Health Hazards in Nation's Contaminated Waterways [Press Release]
PBS - www.pbs.org
21 Apr 2009

More than three decades after the Clean Water Act, iconic American waterways like the Chesapeake Bay and Puget Sound are in perilous condition and facing new sources of contamination.

With polluted runoff still flowing in from industry, agriculture and massive suburban development, scientists note that many new pollutants and toxins from modern everyday life are already being found in the drinking water of millions of people across the country and pose a threat to fish, wildlife and, potentially, human health.

In FRONTLINE’s Poisoned Waters, airing Tuesday, April 21, 2009, from 9 to 11 P.M. ET on PBS (check local listings), Pulitzer Prize-winning journalist Hedrick Smith examines the growing hazards to human health and the ecosystem.

“The ’70s were a lot about, ‘We’re the good guys; we’re the environmentalists; we’re going to go after the polluters,’ and it’s not really about that anymore,” Jay Manning, director of ecology for Washington state, tells FRONTLINE.

>>>FULL PRESS RELEASE AND TRAILER

Colony Collapse Disorder in bee populations... the possible causes... and emerging solutions
WPR Ideas Network - www.wpr.org
15 Apr 2009
Gene Purcell in for Kathleen Dunn

It's mysteriously wiped out large numbers of the bees that pollinate our crops. After nine, Gene Purcell and his guests discuss Colony Collapse Disorder in bee populations... the possible causes... and emerging solutions.

Guests:
- Diana Cox-Foster, professor of entomology, Pennsylvania State University. Co-director, colony collapse disorder working team.
- Dennis van Engelsdorp, acting state apiarist for Pennsylvania. Senior extension associate, entomology department, Pennsylvania State University.

>>>FULL PODCAST