TOP STORIES
You may have noticed an abundance of news covering recent mass mortality events of wildlife. From birds (Swedish birds 'scared to death': veterinarian; Hundreds of birds dead in western Ky.; What killed thousands of birds and fish in Arkansas?) to fish ('Very large' fish kill reported in bay; Dead fish in Arkansas total about 100,000) to crabs (40,000 crabs join slew of animal-death mysteries), much attention has been paid to these die-offs.
With your help we can better track these events, which could also lead to the detection and containment of wildlife disease outbreaks that may pose a health risk to people. Users of the Wildlife Health Event Reporter (WHER) create accounts online to register sightings of sick or dead wildlife.Anyone can visit the site to see what others have reported and can subscribe to an RSS feed to receive new reports via e-mail. Reports can be limited to specific states, and data can be readily exported or sent through special feeds to other websites. See figure at left for subscription options.
If you experience problems while using the WHER, email us your questions and feedback at wher@wdin.org or digest@wdin.org.
Thousands of turtle doves have rained down from the skies on an Italian town in the latest mass animal deaths sweeping the world.
The bodies of the birds, with a mysterious blue tinge to their beaks, crashed down on roofs of homes and cars in Faenza, near Ravenna in northern Italy.
For the last five days wildlife experts and officers from the forestry commission have picked up more than 1,000 turtle doves as well as other birds including pigeons.
The Daily Mirror - www.mirror.co.uk
7 Jan 2011
Photo courtesy of The Daily Mirror
Location: Faenza, Italy - Map It 
Related News
100 Tons of Dead Fish Wash Ashore in Brazil Following Massive Arkansas Fishkill
Millions of dead fish measuring an estimated 100 tons began washing ashore along Brazil's coastal beaches last Thursday, Dec. 30, alarming local officials.
. . . Officials in the Parana region of Brazil said that dead sardine, croaker, and catfish began appearing Dec. 30 and were a cause for concern, considering that nearly 3,000 fishermen in the area depended on the local seafood for their economic survival.
"We will wait to see what happened," Avila said said earlier this week, "but speculations suggest that fish may have died due to an environmental imbalance, dropping a fishing boat or leakage of chemicals."
Associated Content from Yahoo! - www.associatedcontent.com
S Relative
7 Jan 2011
Location: Parana region, Brazil - Map It
Swarms of dead birds have been found in Tennessee as well as in a few nearby states, with hundreds found in Davidson, Montgomery and Wilson County, according to TWRA.
Wildlife officials have said mass deaths are generally not a rare occurrence.
The cause of death of the Wilson birds is unknown. “All we really know is there were somewhere around 150 grackles, sort of on the side of the road,” said Russell Skoglund, a Tennessee Wildlife Resources Agency biologist.
The Tennessean - www.tennessean.com
A Paine
6 Jan 2011
Photo credit: L Condo/AP/The Advocate
Location: Tennessee, USA - Davidson County - Map It ; Montgomery County - Map It ; Wilson County - Map It
; Montgomery County - Map It ; Wilson County - Map It White-tailed deer taken in Decatur County Nov. 7; complete results due in spring
The Kansas Department of Wildlife and Parks (KDWP) has announced the first confirmed case of chronic wasting disease (CWD) found in a deer taken during a 2010 deer season.
The animal was the only one of 90 tested by KDWP as of Dec. 8 to show a “presumptive positive” result.
Samples of deer tissue taken by KDWP are sent to the K-State Diagnostic Veterinary Lab in Manhattan for preliminary testing. If the K-State lab determines the sample is a presumptive positive, the sample is then sent to the National Veterinary Services Lab in Ames, Iowa, for confirmation.
Salina Journal - www.saljournal.com
6 Jan 2011
Location: Decatur County, Kansas, USA - Map It
OTHER WILDLIFE HEALTH RELATED NEWS
Photo credit: L Marsden/Newspix/Rex Features- The week in wildlife [image gallery]
- Burlington Man Allegedly Shoots Swans [Iowa, USA]
- Six Australian birds declared extinct, although some could have been saved
- Rabies test on raccoon are positive; attacked an Edgewater resident [Borough of Edgewater, New Jersey, USA - Map It ]
- People urged to steer clear of Moorabool reservoir after algae outbreak
- Bison being corralled, tested; to be released outside Yellowstone's north entrance
- New Report: Arctic Sea Ice Among Top 10 Places Whose Species Are Threatened by Climate Change
- What in the name of Flipper: Bottlenose dolphin in Sound [Puget Sound, Washington, USA]
Huh, That's Interesting!
