February 10, 2011

TOP STORIES

Malady deadly to bats found in North Carolina

White-nose syndrome, the disease that has killed hundreds of thousands of bats in the Eastern United States, has been discovered in a retired Avery County mine and in a cave at Grandfather Mountain State Park, marking the arrival of the disease in North Carolina.

“White-nose syndrome is confirmed in Virginia and Tennessee, so we expected we would be one of the next states to see the disease,” said Gabrielle Graeter, a biologist with the N.C. Wildlife Resources Commission. “This discovery marks the arrival of one of the most devastating threats to bat conservation in our time.”

USFWS Southeast Region - www.fws.gov/southeast/news
09 Feb 2011
Photo credit: Gabrielle Graeter/NCWRC 
Location: Grandfather Mountain State Park, Avery County, North Carolina, USA - Map It




Coral Bleaching Outbreak in Thailand Shutting Dive Sites and Slowing Tourism

In what experts are calling a slow disaster in the making, up to 90 percent of coral in the Gulf of Thailand and the Andaman Sea has been bleached, resulting in state shutdowns of affected areas and projected annual losses into the millions.

Many observers say the cause of the latest bleaching outbreak is extreme heat stress due to climate change, as ocean temperatures hover around 30 degrees Celsius (86 Fahrenheit).

"If there is a long-term solution to the Thai problem — and the global problem — it lies in finding a realistic alternative to the combustion of fossil fuels, thus reducing the CO2 being pumped into the atmosphere," said Monty Halls, a spokesperson for the UK-based Shark and Coral Conservation Trust (SCCT), who warned that it is quickly becoming too late for the world's corals.

Reuters - www.reuters.com
08 Feb 2011
D Wilson
Location: Gulf of Thailand and Andaman Sea, Thailand - Map It


Related News




Japan Finds Seven Wild Birds Positive for H5N1

During January, a total of seven wild birds found dead across a wide area of the country tested positive for H5N1 highly pathogenic avian influenza (HPAI) virus.

The authorities sent Follow Up report No. 4 dated 4 February to the World Organisation for Animal Health (OIE).

Between 7 and 28 January, seven wild birds were found dead at different locations across the main island of Honshu as well as on Hokkaido in the north-east.

ThePoultrySite - www.thepoultrysite.com
07 Feb 2011




Study links Yellowstone bison fate to genetic flaw

A congenital defect combined with U.S. government plans to kill bison exposed to an infectious cattle disease could doom America's last wild herd of pure-bred buffalo at Yellowstone National Park, a genetics expert said in a new study.

The findings were posted on Monday in Nature Precedings, an online archive for pre-publication research by scientists, as the government and environmental groups clashed in court over an icon of Western wildlife that dates to prehistoric times.

Government managers continue to corral hundreds of bison whose search for food has led them to stray from Yellowstone into nearby Montana grazing lands.

WBFO 88.7 - www.publicbroadcasting.net/wbfo (Source: Reuters)
07 Feb 2011
L Zuckerman




Reported Wildlife Mortality Events to the USGS National Wildlife Health Center Updated

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 February 08, 2011 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.

USGS National Wildlife Health Center
09 Feb 2011
Area: United States




OTHER WILDLIFE HEALTH RELATED NEWS
Photo credit: Carol Miller

at Thursday, February 10, 2011