January 17, 2013

Today's Wildlife Disease News Stories

TOP STORIES

Carcasses of Olive Ridley turtles washed ashore in Odisha

Several carcasses of Olive Ridley turtles were washed ashore near the mouth of river Rushikulya off Odisha's Ganjam coast, a major mass nesting site of these endangered species.

Forest officials have recovered over 150 dead turtles from different places in the coastal areas in Ganjam district during the last one month.

Forest officials, however, said the mortality of the turtles as not very alarming. "Most of the carcasses were found decomposed. We suspect these were washed ashore to Ganjam coast from Astaranga areas in Puri district, where a number of turtles were found dead recently, Divisional Forest Officer (DFO), Berhampur, S S Mishra said on Wednesday.

...Wildlife activists...claimed that over 4000 carcasses were washed ashore off Odisha cost in the last one month. Majority of them were found between Astaranga and Konark in Puri district.

ZeeNews - zeenews.india.com
16 Jan 2013
Location: Ganjam, India  - Map It   



Dead Birds in Duson A Mystery

An odd discovery was made Tuesday in Duson. More than 30 birds were found dead, and as of now no one knows why. The birds had no visible injuries and were just scattered in an area next to a sugar cane field.

...Wing called a state biologist to come in and investigate. The biologist collected around 30 of the dead birds for testing in Baton Rouge.

"We saw about a dozen of them that were ill. He said we'd probably see more until they could figure out what was the cause," Wing said.

Despite all the stormy and unusual weather, the biologist from the Louisiana Department of Wildlife and Fisheries says it was likely not a factor in the deaths. Testing will give them a better idea of what happened by Thursday.

KATC.com - www.katc.com
15 Jan 2013
S Albritton
Location: Duson, Louisiana, USA - Map It   



Mysterious dolphin deaths continue in Gulf but stabilize in Florida

The unusually high number of dolphin deaths that began three years ago in the northern Gulf of Mexico is continuing, though the number of deaths in Florida dropped in 2012 after peaking in 2011.

Since February 2010 to Jan. 6 of this year, the bodies of 825 marine mammals, nearly all bottlenose dolphins and a few whales, have been found along the coast from Louisiana to Apalachicola, according to figures released by the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration.

Of those, 150 dolphins found dead on beaches or in marshes, including Fort Pickens beach, Perdido Key State Park, East Bay and Navy Point, were premature, stillborn or neonatal bottlenose. In the seven years before 2010, the northern Gulf each year saw an average 63 bottlenose dolphin strandings, incidents where injured or sick marine mammals come ashore.

That number swelled to 228 in 2010, peaked to 330 in 2011 and tapered to 153 in 2012. The fact that the number of dolphin deaths continues to be higher than the pre-2010 levels worries Teri Rowles, who heads NOAA’s investigation team. “This is the longest unusual mortality event nationally,” she said of the dolphin deaths.

Even though dolphin deaths began their climb in the Gulf prior to the Deepwater Horizon disaster on April 20, 2010, the oil spill is being considered as a possible cause.  Bacteria and biotoxins, such as red tide, also are being investigated as possible factors contributing to the deaths.

PNJ.com - www.pnj.com
15 Jan 2013
K Blair
Location: USA




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 January 10, 2013 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
13 Jan 2013
Location:US



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