TOP STORIES
Bird life badly hit by nuclear fallout in Japan
RESEARCHERS WORKING in the irradiated zone around the disabled Fukushima nuclear plant say bird populations there have begun to dwindle, in what may be a chilling harbinger of the impact of radioactive fallout on local life.
In the first major study on the impact of the world’s worst nuclear crisis in 25 years, the researchers from Japan, the US and Denmark say that analysis of 14 species of birds common to Fukushima and Chernobyl shows the effect on numbers is worse in the Japanese disaster zone.
...Timothy Mousseau and Anders Pape Moller say their research there uncovered major negative effects among the local bird population, including reductions in longevity, male fertility and birds with smaller brains.
Many species show “dramatically” elevated DNA mutation rates, developmental abnormalities and extinctions, they add, while insect life has been significantly reduced.
03 Feb 2012
D McNeill
Livestock, not Mongolian gazelles, drive foot-and-mouth disease outbreaks
Wildlife health experts from the Wildlife Conservation Society have published evidence which supports the conclusion that Mongolian gazelles—one of the most populous large land mammals on the planet—are not a reservoir of foot-and-mouth disease (FMD), a highly contagious viral disease that threatens both wildlife and livestock in Asia.
Outbreaks of FMD in Mongolia affect domestic sheep, goats, camels, and cattle as well as Mongolian gazelles. In a country where roughly one-third of the human population relies directly on livestock production for their subsistence, outbreaks of FMD cause severe disruption of the rural economy.
The study, titled "Serosurveillance for Foot-and-Mouth Disease in Mongolian Gazelles (Procapra gutturosa) and Livestock on the Eastern Steppe of Mongolia," appears in the January edition of the Journal of Wildlife Diseases.
30 Jan 2012
Reported Wildlife Mortality Events to the USGS National Wildlife Health Center UpdatedUSGS 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 01, 2012 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.
01 Feb 2012
Location:USA
OTHER WILDLIFE HEALTH RELATED NEWS
- Tularaemia Surveillance Continues [Tasmania, Australia]
- Rescued dolphins now safe near Cape Cod: 9 rescued dolphins safe, but stranding continues [Massachusetts, USA]
- MSU researcher finds link to H5N1 bird flu [... researcher has uncovered the first molecular evidence linking live poultry markets in China to human H5N1 avian influenza]
- OIE WAHID Report: Highly pathogenic avian influenza, South Africa [H7N1 confirmed in commercial ostriches][Hessequa, Western Cape Province, South Africa - Map It
]
- Barwon River algae outbreak worsens [Victoria, Australia]
- Opposition calls for action after bay's algae outbreak [Port Phillip Bay, Australia]
Rabies News
- Rabid bobcat found in West Bay [Bay Cty, Florida, USA - Map It ]
- Middletown Township Issues Rabies Alert [New Jersey, USA]
- Clinic targets Eddy Co. rabies outbreak [...confirmed almost as many rabies cases this month as in all of 2011] [California, USA]
- Lancaster hunter exposed to rabies from harvested deer [Pennsylvania, USA - Map It ]
