Wildlife Disease News Digest

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No chronic wasting disease found in NH deer

New Hampshire's white-tailed deer population once again showed no evidence of chronic wasting disease, based on monitoring data gathered during the 2009 hunting season.

New Hampshire Fish and Game deer biologist Kent Gustafson recently received results from a federally certified veterinary diagnostic laboratory that indicate all the deer tissue samples taken during last fall's hunting season tested negative for CWD. A total of 439 tissue samples were tested.

The Eagle Tribune - www.eagletribune.com
24 Mar 2010
Location: New Hampshire, USA

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Bees in more trouble than ever after bad winter

The mysterious 4-year-old crisis of disappearing honeybees is deepening. A quick federal survey indicates a heavy bee die-off this winter, while a new study shows honeybees' pollen and hives laden with pesticides.

Two federal agencies along with regulators in California and Canada are scrambling to figure out what is behind this relatively recent threat, ordering new research on pesticides used in fields and orchards. Federal courts are even weighing in this month, ruling that the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency overlooked a requirement when allowing a pesticide on the market.

And on Thursday, chemists at a scientific conference in San Francisco will tackle the issue of chemicals and dwindling bees in response to the new study.

Yahoo News - news.yahoo.com (source: Associated Press)
24 Mar 2010
G Burke and S Borenstein

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Closing caves, sparing bats: Public agencies hope to slow devastation of white-nose syndrome

... The state Game and Fish Commission voted last week to close caves on its lands and natural areas it manages for the state to the public. At Devil's Den State Park, the Devil's Den and Devil's Icebox are still open to visitors but Farmer's Cave is shut and concerns are growing about the Devil's Den and Icebox, park naturalist Adam Leslie said. Visitors to the park are being asked if they've been to Tennessee or other fungus-infected states, Leslie said; those numbers are low, fortunately.

David Kampwerth, the cave and karst biologist in the Arkansas office of the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, says the closures have limited “quite a bit of caving activity” in Arkansas and sent spelunkers to caves on private lands. One of the concerns of cave biologists is that cavers may not be decontaminating their gear as the move from cave to cave. The USFWS recommends that cavers wash all gear, apply disinfectants and wash again to remove the disinfectants.

Arkansas Times - www.arktimes.com
25 Mar 2010
N Peacock
Location: Arkansas, USA

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