Wildlife Disease News Digest

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Study will track shared habitats, diseases between species

Starting this summer, researchers from CSU will study how often bobcats, mountain lions and domestic cats bump into each other in Boulder as part of a five-year, $2.3 million grant from the National Science Foundation to identify the dynamics of infectious diseases among wild cats and domestic pets.

Kevin Crooks, associate professor in the CSU Department of Fish, Wildlife and Conservation Biology, and Sue VandeWoude, professor in the Department of Microbiology, Immunology and Pathology, are collecting samples and monitoring movement behavior of different cat species in divergent habitats in Colorado, Florida and California as a way to see a day-in-a-life of a cat.

The scientists are looking for trends between disease dynamics and urban fragmentation among feline species in high-density places such as Los Angeles and Boulder compared to more rural areas.

The Coloradoan - www.coloradoan.com
24 June 2010
Photo courtesy of the Associated Press

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Don't kill oiled birds, say UCDavis wildlife experts

Rescuing oiled birds is the right thing to do because more of them survive and reproduce than previously thought, say UC Davis oiled wildlife experts in the first scientific review of all oiled-bird survival studies. The observation comes at the same time some people are questioning whether the effort to save birds covered in oil on the Gulf Coast is worth it.

"Photos of extremely oiled pelicans in the Gulf spill have raised the question: 'Are we helping these animals more by saving them, or by ending their suffering?' said Michael Ziccardi, a UC Davis associate professor of veterinary medicine and oiled-wildlife expert who has responded to more than 45 spills and treated more than 6,500 oiled birds.

"It's an entirely appropriate question to ask. I ask it myself every time I work in an oil spill. And my answer, based on caring for these injured birds throughout the world, is that we help them more by saving them."

Daily Democrat Online - www.dailydemocrat.com [with contributions from The Associated Press]
25 June 2010
Photo credit: T Yates

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More Gulf Oil Spill Related News
>>> Gulf fishing nets, not oil, may be culprit in initial sea turtle deaths
>>> Oil lands more wildlife on endangered list [video]
>>> Oil threat looms large over Cape wildlife [Cape Cod, Maryland, USA]
>>> Northern birds could be migrating to disaster in Gulf Coast
>>> More brown pelicans released at Aransas National Wildlife Refuge

Anthrax killed hippos - experts

TESTS done at the Central Veterinary Laboratory in Entebbe have confirmed that anthrax killed the 30 hippos in Queen Elizabeth National Park.

Dr. Nicholas Kauta, a commissioner in the agriculture ministry, on Friday said the disease affects all warm blooded animals except birds.

He said animals that feast on hippos’ infected carcass can catch the disease.

The New Vision - www.newvision.co.ug
22 June 2010
A Ssengendo
Photo courtesy of The New Vision
Location: Queen Elizabeth National Park, Uganda - Map It