TOP STORIES
Scientists seek cause of puffer fish skin disease
Red rice coral hit by blue-green algae off Kauai’s North Shore has responded well to a treatment involving marine epoxy, according to state and federal scientists, but they’re still trying to find out what is causing skin problems in nearby Hawaiian puffer fish.
“Something’s going on on that North Shore,” Greta Aeby, assistant researcher at the University of Hawaii Institute of Marine Biology, told the Honolulu Star-Advertiser (http://bit.ly/13VcVUg ).
...During the October field work, researchers first noticed lesions on puffer fish. Normal skin color is olive green or brown with small polka dots. Diseased fish showed discolored, inflamed, ulcerated or rotting skin.
In an attempt to determine cause and prevalence of the disease, researchers from May 29 to June 5 surveyed five areas — three in Anini, one off Charo’s in Hanalei, and Makua Lagoon.
Hawaii Tribune Herald
12 Jun 2013
Snake Fungal Disease: The White-Nose Syndrome for Reptiles?
Called snake fungal disease, it’s a disease showing up with increasing frequency in snakes around the eastern and midwestern United States. Conservationists fear it could pose a similar threat to snakes as white-nose syndrome in bats.
Timber rattlesnakes don’t move as widely as bats, but they do share some habits. They too hibernate underground in communal dens—often with other snake species. During hibernation, immune systems are suppressed. This combination can create a fertile ground for fungal disease growth and spread.
The Nature Conservancy Blog
11 Jun 2013
M Miller
More Snake Fungal Disease News
Bighorns: Pneumonia outbreaks have decimated some herds
There are more than 80 new lambs in Nebraska's five wild herds of Rocky Mountain bighorns so far this spring. Newborns arrive almost daily, delighting wildlife biologists.... Mountain lions, coyotes, bobcats and golden eagles pose natural threats to young bighorns, but their steepest challenge is disease, especially pasteurella pneumonia. The respiratory ailment is a ruthless killer of bighorns.
... The Nebraska Game and Parks Commission started reintroducing bighorns to the state in 1981. The sheep are considered an at-risk species and are closely monitored. Wildlife biologists watch the herds for signs of pneumonia. They listen for coughing. They watch for lethargy.
... Injecting bighorns with antibiotics created for livestock is effective, but delivering the drug to a wild animal isn't simple. Using a dart gun, Nordeen injected an ailing Fort Robinson bighorn with an experimental drug last year. The female was the only survivor of a group of sheep sick with pasteurella pneumonia.
Omaha World Herald
12 Jun 2013
D Hendee
Location: Nebraska, USA
Request for Information by a Fellow Digest Reader
Dr. Rivera is asking for help from the Digest community. He is curious if there are any publications or studies on the possibility of rats and mice being a reservoir for avian influenza subtypes.
For more details about this request and his contact information, please read his original email message. [Note: The language of this communications was translated from Spanish to English by translation software]
Thank you for any assistance you can offer him.
Digest Administrator
Cris Marsh
OTHER WILDLIFE HEALTH RELATED NEWS
- Warming Atlantic Ocean may be culprit in Puffin die-off
- 3 Squirrels Test Positive for Plague; Hikers Warned [Cleveland National Forest, California, USA - Map It
] - Ongoing threats make manatee recovery tenuous
- Understanding disease to protect an Aussie icon [Australia]
- Range expansion of the winter tick into Northwest Territories, Canada [CCWHC healthywildlife.ca Blog]
- Bat Population Drops Sharply at Shaver's Creek [Pennsylvania, USA]
- A California Native Receives a Warm Welcome in Arizona [CDFW Wildlife Investigations Lab Blog]
- Lawmakers Object As Florida Fish and Wildlife Prepares to Ban All Deer and Elk Imports [Chronic Wasting Disease][Florida, USA]
- Surveillance Samples of Wild Salmon in British Columbia Test Negative
- Dead fish, foamy substance — maybe gross but not toxic [Overton Arm, Lake Mead, Nevada, USA - Map It ]
- Despite stricter enforcement, illegal wildlife trade at worrying levels
- Drone & New UMD Tech Help Protect Wildlife from Poachers
- Rare birds smuggled into Europe from Indonesia have to be killed after one is found to have deadly H5N1 virus [Shared by a Facebook fan.]
- Reactive To Predictive: Tracking Global Epidemics [audio broadcast]
- RI DEM issues warning about infected birds [psittacosis - privately owned flock] [Rhone Island. USA]
- New Center Targets Ocean Contaminants and Human Health: Scripps scientists lead two separate projects to track potentially toxic chemicals in marine life and their impacts on human health [University of California - San Diego, USA]
- Triple Threat: Middle East Respiratory Virus And 2 Bird Flus
- Healthy Soil Microbes, Healthy People: The microbial community in the ground is as important as the one in our guts.
- Cane toads impact on native wildlife worse than expected [video]
- Scientist smells a rat that proves to be a hit
- Dry conditions send budgies to coast in search of water
- CSIRO develops bird flu test kits
- Ecology Lessons From the Cold War
- Do Parasites Upset Food Web Theory?
- Smartphone app highlights disturbance threat to birds
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