July 21, 2009

TOP STORIES

Diseased-deer deaths spread
Mail Tribune - www.mailtribune.com
20 Jul 2009
M Freeman
Photo credit: Jamie Lusch
Area: Jackson County, Oregon, USA - Map It

Black-tailed deer are turning up dead in several rural Jackson County communities in what wildlife officials fear is a new outbreak of a disease associated with backyard feeding that killed hundreds of area deer earlier this decade.

Confirmed and suspected cases of the adenovirus have been found recently outside of Ashland, in the Colestine Valley, rural Gold Hill and outside of Jacksonville, in the highest numbers since 2002, according to the Oregon Department of Fish and Wildlife.




Reported Wildlife Mortality Events to the USGS National Wildlife Health Center Updated
USGS National Wildlife Health Center
20 Jul 2009
Area: United States

USGS and a network of partners across the country work on documenting wildlife mortality events in order to provide timely and accurate information on locations, species and causes of death. This information was updated on Jul 12, 2009 on the USGS National Wildlife Health Center web page, New and Ongoing Wildlife Mortality Events Nationwide. Quarterly Mortality Reports are also available from this page. These reports go back to 1995.




Vampire Bats Biting People
National Geographic News - news.nationalgeographic.com
16 Jul 2009
Area: Peru

Vampire bats in Peru are increasingly biting people, and a National Geographic Society researcher is trying to find ways to stem the resulting spread of deadly rabies.

. . . But increasingly bats are targeting humans and the encounters are turning deadly. The bats are blamed for rabies outbreaks in Peru and National Geographic grantee Daniel Streiker is researching the environmental causes and extent of the disease.




Night Stalker: White-Nose Fungus in Bats--Why It's Our Problem, Too
Scientific American - www.scientificamerican.com
Aug 2009
Area: United States

. . . Meanwhile the most visible response to WNS has been to declare caves and mines off-limits to visitors. . . . David Blehert of the National Wildlife Health Center in Madison, Wis., and his colleagues are working to culture the fungus from the floors and walls of caves, to determine whether clothing and equipment could spread the fungus.

But if the syndrome spreads primarily from bat to bat—as seems the case—closures will have little effect. Unless more answers appear soon, draconian measures such as killing all the bats in infected caves may be all that can keep the spread of WNS from rewriting the ecological rules.




OTHER WILDLIFE RELATED NEWS
Photo courtesy of David Western/ScienceDaily

Interesting and/or Good News