In the Spotlight: Happy Holidays from WHER!

Twelve Days of the Wildlife Health Event Reporter 
Day 12: Happy Holidays! Wishing you Joy, Happiness and Good Health!

The Wildlife Health Event Reporter (WHER) team hopes you have enjoyed our special Digest series, Twelve Days of the Wildlife Health Event Reporter and learned how this system can support wildlife disease surveillance efforts. The series sparked a lot of interest in the system and we appreciated the questions and comments readers sent us.

We also wanted to thank all the new people who signed up to use WHER! As a reminder, WHER users can always enter in sightings of wildlife health events you observed in the past, even those going back a few months ago, as long as you remember the who, what, when and where facts of the event. 

Current reports to WHER provide near-real time situational awareness of where wildlife health events are occurring. Although past sightings that are back entered are just as valuable, because these historic records contribute to the development of a wildlife morbidity and mortality baseline - a beneficial benchmark that wildlife health professionals can use to support wildlife disease management decisions.

Figure 1: Colored pins on WHER map show where
wildlife health events have been recently reported.

If you have not already, sign up for a WHER account today! If your New Year’s resolution is to help wildlife, then you definitely need to get a WHER account. It will help you reach your goal! You say you already have an account? Then consider telling your wildlife-loving friends about WHER. Download our small, informational brochure and use it to tell others about WHER and why their wildlife health observations are valuable.
 

Kick off the New Year by reporting the next wildlife health event you see! Each report to WHER expands our knowledge base and understanding of disease ecology.

The WHER team wishes you joy, happiness and good health in the coming New Year! 

>>> TO WHER 

>>> DOWNLOAD WHER BROCHURE 

>>> TO ALL TWELVE DAYS of WHER

12 Days of the Wildilfe Health Event Reporter

Figure 1: Jingle and Jangle helping baby reindeer,
Vixen in the beloved holiday show,  'A Year without a Santa Claus'

Twelve Days of the Wildlife Health Event Reporter
Day 11: What if One of Santa’s Reindeer got Sick?

We all know Santa’s reindeer are all very well cared for by Santa and his elves, like when the elves, Jingle and Jangle helped baby Vixen when he got over heated in A Year without a Santa Clause [Figure 1]. The Wildlife Health Event Reporter (WHER) can also help with injured and sick wildlife.

The system can potentially be used by wildlife biologists and researchers to assist with the prevention and control of wildlife disease which can significantly impact the health of wildlife populations, especially in the case of endangered or threatened species.

In addition, WHER can help wildlife critters on a smaller scale too. If a citizen wants to help a sick or injured wild animal that they found, but do not know how to locate the nearest wildlife rehabilitator, they can visit WHER’s instructional website, Wildlife Health Event Reporter News & Information. At this site, concerned individuals can find a list of helpful resources including how to:

• Find a wildlife rehabilitator in your area
• Locate contact for specific information on wildlife in your state/province

What Did We Miss?

Upon visiting the site, you will find that we have a good start on a list of how to find help for wildlife, but it is by no means complete. If you have a resource you think we should be included, send it to us at wher@wdin.org. Your fellow wildlife lovers will appreciate your effort!

Please note - we do not advocate the handling of sick, injured, or dead animals without proper training. Individuals who do this, do it at their own risk and should be aware of the dangers. You could be injured and/or exposed to a zoonotic disease, a disease of wildlife that can be transmitted to humans.

>>> TO WHER

 

>>> TO WILDLIFE HEALTH EVENT REPORTER NEWS & INFOMATION SITE

12 Days of WHER and the Wildlife Disease News Digest

Twelve Days of the Wildlife Health Event Reporter
Day 10: Schedule a WHER Party and We’ll Demo the System. You can wear your Ugly Holiday Sweater!

Through our special series, Twelve Days of the Wildlife Health Event Reporter (WHER), we have been describing the significance of this online wildlife health surveillance system, and its many features and capabilities.

At this point, you may have some questions about this system and what it can do for you and/or for the wildlife health community. Your questions are always welcome and can be sent to us at wher@wdin.org.

Figure 1: FAQs on the Wildlife Health Event
Reporter News & Information website.

You may also find answers to your ‘how-to-do’ questions on WHER’s instructional site, the Wildlife Health Event Reporter News & Information [See Figure 1] under the label, Frequently Asked Questions (FAQ), http://whmn-wher.blogspot.com/search/label/FAQ. This is the same site that you would go to and sign up for feeds or email alerts that are delivered when reports are entered into the WHER system, http://whmn-wher.blogspot.com/p/feedsemail-alerts.html

Schedule a Demonstration  

As a wildlife professional, you might have more in depth questions about WHER. You think it can support your work and assist with monitoring for wildlife health activity at the ground level, but you are still not quite sure how it all works.  

Schedule a demonstration of WHER and get answers to your questions, such as how can you:

• Sign up to receive WHER alerts
  
  
• Utilize WHER’s disease diagnostic fields
  
  
• Automate pulling wildlife health data from WHER and mash it with your own data
  
  
• Contribute your organization’s data (older or current) to the WHER system
  
  
• Use WHER to communicate and coordinate response efforts in a wildlife health emergency (e.g. oil spill or avian botulism outbreak)
  
  
• Make use of WHER because your organization does not have an online data collection system for wildlife health surveillance
  
  
• Use WHER to record those events the public calls or emails to report that are valuable observations but do not fit your wildlife surveillance protocol [See workflow suggestions for state biologist and wildlife rehab centers]
  
  
• Use WHER data to make your own maps outside the WHER system (e.g. Google Earth or your own mapping application]

Figure 2: Megan Hines, our Technical
Manager, and her husband wearing their
prizing winning ugly holiday sweaters

The WHER team would be happy to schedule a time to demonstrate WHER’s features and capabilities and personally address your questions and concerns.

If you are interested in a guided tour of the WHER system, email us at wher@wdin.org.  We will work with you to set up a demonstration to show you how information is entered, viewed and searched within the system. In addition, we can walk you through WHER's more advanced features, such as how wildlife health data can be exchanged between WHER and external sources.

If you think the Wildlife Health Event Reporter can potentially suit your wildlife health surveillance needs, schedule a demonstration and find out!

You don't have to wait for Christmas Day to start playing with WHER. It is available now! 

>>> TO WHER

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TOP STORIES

Bats May Hold Clues to Long Life and Disease Resistance

... The Bat Pack, a team of researchers at the Australian Animal Health Laboratory (AAHL) in Geelong, conduct a wide range of research into bats and bat borne viruses, and their potential effects on the human population, as part of the effort to safeguard Australia from exotic and emerging pests and diseases.

Their paper, published today in the journal Science, provides an insight into the evolution of the bat's flight, resistance to viruses, and relatively long life.

Science Daily - www.sciencedaily.com

20 Dec 2012

>>> FULL ARTICLE

Cited Journal Article

G Zhang et al. Comparative Analysis of Bat Genomes Provides Insight into the Evolution of Flight and Immunity. Science, 2012; DOI: 10.1126/science.1230835

Acid link in squid deaths

Natural neurotoxin can poison sea creatures, say scientists

Researchers at a Pacific Grove laboratory have found a potential explanation for why thousands of Humboldt squid washed up on Santa Cruz County shores last week. They were victims of poisoning.

Since the stranding, researchers at Stanford University's Hopkins Marine Station have been looking for an explanation for why Aptos beaches ended up covered with large red cephalopods Dec. 10. By sifting through massive amounts of ocean data, one researcher spotted a pattern, possibly the first clue in solving a bizarre marine mystery.

"There was a cycle of spikes in the amount of domoic acid in the water," said R. Russell Williams, a graduate researcher at the lab.

Domoic acid is a naturally occurring neurotoxin. The spikes coincide with mass squid deaths which happen about every three weeks, though usually in far smaller numbers. Prior to the Dec. 10 event, there were strandings reported Nov. 20 and Oct. 30, Williams said.

Last week's stranding was unusually large and was concentrated on a highly trafficked beach area....While relatively common, the reason for the strandings is still a mystery. One theory is that because the big 10-tentacled creatures don't normally call Monterey Bay home, the alien invaders simply became disoriented and beached themselves en masse.

Monterey Herald - www.montereyherald.com

20 Dec 2012

J Hoppin

Location: Santa Cruz Co., California, USA - Map It

>>> FULL ARTICLE

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 December 19, 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.

USGS National Wildlife Health Center

19 Dec 2012

Location:US

>>> Updated Wildlife Mortality Event Table

OTHER WILDLIFE HEALTH RELATED NEWS

A spotted jaguar in the jungle of Brazil.
The Guardian's Week in Wildlife
Photo credit: Larry Larsen/Alamy

• Case Of Chronic Wasting Disease Found [Macon Co., Missouri, USA - Map It  ]
• Museum Has Advice on Sick Birds [Salmonella][Walnut Creek, California, USA - Map It  ]
• Critically endangered right whale washes up dead on the Florida coast [Varn Park, Florida, USA - Map It ]
• 16 blackbucks found dead in Kota zoo [Suspect pneumonia][India]
• Scientists Report Climate Impact on Animals, Ecosystems 
• Could Climate Change Boost Toxic Algal Blooms in the Oceans? [Scientific American]
• Research reveals new elk-brucellosis information
• Illegal drug crops threaten native frogs[Clearing for drug crops is just one of the challenges some little South West frogs face as they struggle to survive][Australia]
• Health agencies in Canterbury are warning of potentially toxic algae in the Ashley River [New Zealand]

One Health News Corner

• WHO's Dr Chan warns of animal disease risk to humans
• Zoo data show low incidence of animal–human infection

Huh?! That's Interesting!

• Chronic stress causes pathology in humans, but not wild animals [UN of Toronto Press Release]

It Ain't All Bad News

• Wildlife Monitoring Cameras Click Jaguar and Ocelot Photos

In the Spotlight: Twelve Days of the Wildlife Health Event Reporter

Twelve Days of the Wildlife Health Event Reporter
Day 9: WHER’s Wish List to Santa

WHER's wish list to Santa Claus.

The Wildlife Health Event Reporter (WHER) has been a good little online application since it was launched in 2010. It has been working hard taking in reports, accumulating over 4,500 records about injured, sick and dead wildlife by the public and others concerned about wildlife health. It has also been busy taking requests 24 hours a day, seven days a week to create maps, tables and downloadable files with its data.

For Christmas, all WHER wants is to improve its effectiveness as a near real-time wildlife health communication and surveillance tool. It has included the following items for system improvements to its wish list to Santa (or to any open funding opportunities):

• Expand alert options so that people can be notified by WHER of incoming wildlife health reports via email, feed or text message, such as: 
• Size of event: Notifies a person only when a specific number of animals are reported in a given geographic area; larger events may indicate a disease outbreak and warrant field investigation.
• Species: A person can create customized notifications for species they are researching, that are threatened or endangered, or that they have a particular interest in.
• Geographic area: Filters reports from specific geographic areas (i.e. at a finer level than the state or administration equivalent, which is the current geographic alert option).
  
  
• Assist groups (e.g. wildlife rehab centers, wildlife related volunteer programs, or state wildlife agencies) to create a feed from their database that delivers the wildlife health data they want to share with WHER and enables outside groups concerned about wildlife health can use and see.
  
  
• Assist groups to establish their own alerts by which subscribers are notified via email or feed when reports related to their group’s project or organization are received by WHER.
  
  
• Organize a consortium of WHER stakeholders to guide future developments, partnerships, and opportunities. Integrate wildlife health data with public and domestic animal health information to provide a global health perspective.
  
  
• Utilize mobile reporting capabilities using smart phones or other mobile devices so WHER alerts can be texted to a mobile phone and speed up the notifications of wildlife health incidents reported to WHER (e.g. the wildlife biologist working in the field could receive a text alert from WHER to their phone).
  
  
• Connect and mashup WHER data with other complementary data or information (e.g., social media posts, news reports from the Wildlife Disease News Digest).
  
  
• Push WHER development into the open source software world, where external contributions from programmers could advance the software without added cost.
  
  
• Expand outreach activities to increase public awareness and use of WHER in order to increase the wildlife morbidity and mortality dataset, which could potentially be used to forecast and predict the disease outbreaks.

Do You Have Ideas on How to Improve WHER?
If you have other suggestions on other modifications and/or additional alert ideas, please email the WHER team with your feedback to us at wher@wdin.org! Our readers always have awesome ideas!

Just as we hope your holiday wishes come true, we hope that Santa will bring WHER the means (maybe with a little funding support from the wildlife health community) to implement the improvements its little, ambitious heart desires to do.

>>> TO WHER

>>> TO OTHER TWELVE DAYS OF WHER POSTS

12 Days of WHER and the Wildlife Disease News Digest

Twelve Days of the Wildlife Health Event Reporter
Day 8: You’ve Put Off Your Holiday Shopping, but Hey, No Need to Delay Getting Your WHER Account! 

Figure 1: Screenhsot of the form for creating a
WHER account.  Required fields are limited to
name, username, email and password.

Unlike holiday shopping, signing up for a WHER account is easy and stress free! There are no crowds or long register lines. You won’t forget where you parked your car, or find the item you wanted is out of stock.

So where to start? Follow these simple steps and in about 2 – 5 minutes you’ll have your very own WHER account, and you can start helping researchers and wildlife biologists better understand wildlife disease. Get your WHER account now!

1. Go to http://www.whmn.org/wher/users/add
   
2. Enter the required fields and optional fields where you like. [See Figure 1]
   
3. If you have been invited to join a specific volunteer group, then check the box next to the group name. If you're just joining as an individual, you can skip this step.
   
4. Click the Save button to save your account details.
   
5. Go check your email! You should receive an email from wher@wdin.org with a link to click to confirm your account.

Troubleshooting: If the confirmation email never arrives, email us at wher@wdin.org to help get your account activated. Sometimes your email spam folder routes important messages on accident; check in this folder if your email provider auto-filters your spam. 


Invite to Organizations to Create Your Own WHER Group Project 

Organizations are welcome to use WHER for their wildlife health monitoring projects. The benefit of having a project group created is that you can use WHER’s search feature to select only those reports linked to your project. When members of your group log into WHER, they would indicate that they are entering a report for your project. If desired, the WHER team can give you administrative rights to manage your group’s membership. Sound interesting? Want to learn more? Email us at wher@wdin.org.

While you are procrastinating on that holiday shopping, go sign up for your WHER account and join the effort to spot wildlife health events in your community. 

>>> GET YOUR WHER ACCOUNT

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TOP STORIES

Research: Wind’s contribution to Avian Influenza spread

Wind is estimated to contribute around 18% to the spread of Avian Influenza following an outbreak, a Dutch study to be published in the Journal of Infectious Diseases suggests.

...Dispersal of infectious material by wind has been suggested but never demonstrated as a possible cause of transmission between farms. Statistical evidence has been provided that the direction of spread of avian influenza A(H7N7) is correlated with the direction of wind at date of infection. Research was conducted by reconstructing the transmission tree for a large outbreak in the Netherlands in 2003 using detailed genetic and epidemiological data. It was conservatively estimated that the contribution of a possible wind-mediated mechanism to the total amount of spread during this outbreak could be around 18%.

World Poultry - www.worldpoultry.net

17 Dec 2012

>>> FULL ARTICLE

More Avian Influenza News

>>> Biologists study avian influenza viruses using Chena River ducks [Alaska, USA]

Geographic complexity explains patterns of spread of white-nose syndrome in bats

The spread of white-nose syndrome, an emerging fungal disease in bats, may be determined by habitat and climate, scientists at the University of Georgia have found.

Using data about the spread of white-nose syndrome to date, postdoctoral researcher Sean P. Maher and colleagues at the Odum School of Ecology made a computer model showing that cave-hibernating species of bats in areas with cold winters are most vulnerable to the disease. Their study in Nature Communications finds simulations suggest that white-nose syndrome is likely to spread rapidly among vulnerable populations, reaching a peak in 2015-2016.

UGA Today - news.uga.edu

18 Dec 2012

L King

>>> TO UN OF GEORGIA PRESS RELEASE

A “Doomsday Virus” for Endangered Parrots?

Every time we test blood from new endangered parrot species with small, isolated wild populations, we find Psittacine Beak and Feather Disease (PBFD) virus, a particularly nasty airborne circovirus that destroys the skin and feathers while opening large, painful fissures in the beak that eventually breaks it apart. Cape parrots, black-cheeked lovebirds, Carnaby’s cockatoos, New Caledonian parakeets, Norfolk Island Green Parrot, red-fronted parakeets, swift parrot, orange-bellied parrot, and Echo parakeets are all endangered by catastrophic deforestation and/or widespread capture for the wild-caught bird trade, and ALL have high levels of PBFD virus in the wild population. Is this the “Doomsday Virus” for Endangered parrots?

Our research has demonstrated that PBFd is endemic to the wild Cape parrot population and thus should exist at low levels in the wild. Something has disturbed the balance… This poorly-known virus also attacks the immune system, opening the PBFD-positive parrot to bacterial infections like avian TB, Pseudomonassp., and pneumonia.

National Geographic - newswatch.nationalgeogrphic.com

18 Dec 2012

S Boyes

>>> FULL ARTICLE

OTHER WILDLIFE HEALTH RELATED NEWS

• ProMED: Rabies - Greece - fox, OIE [Greece - Map It ]
• Crayfish Harbor Fungus That's Wiping Out Amphibians
• Fish & Game close eye on deadly bird disease [New Zealand]
• Badger sleeping habits could help target TB control
• Humane Wildlife Services of the HSUS Addresses Human-Wildlife Conflict [Interview with senior director of Wildlife Response, Innovations & Services for The Humane Society of the United States]
• Lack of genetic diversity threatens manatees, study says
• Study will track moose in Utah
• CCWHC graduate student studying disease of Canadian crows [CCWHC healthywildlife.ca Blog]

CDFG Wildlife Investigations Lab Blog

• Fisher Translocation Project Completes Successful Trapping Effort
• Band-tailed Pigeon Disease Study

One Health News Corner

• Long-term public health support needed to tackle infectious disease outbreaks
• Pigs in southern China infected with avian flu
• Schmallenberg: Rapid spread of livestock virus [England and Wales]
• New Lethal Bird Flu Strain Emerges in Indonesian Ducks
• Chances Seen Rising for Chikungunya Outbreaks in NYC, Atlanta, Miami [USA]

Huh?! That's Interesting!

• Microbes Hitch Rides Across Ocean on Dust Plumes
• Can Birds Make Us Happy?

It Ain't All Bad

• Captive-bred frogs take back Mount Buffalo habitat
• In pictures: Celebrating world ecology [Slideshow]

12 Days of WHER and the Wildlife Disease Journal Digest

Twelve Days of the Wildlife Health Event Reporter
 Day 7: Naughty or Nice? WHER Definitely made it on to Santa’s ‘Nice List’! 

Santa working on his naughty and nice list. 

What can we say - Santa loves the Wildlife Health Event Reporter (WHER), www.wher.org, because it plays so well with others and is always sharing its data.

The WHER team understands that many organizations already have an established system they use to collect and manage wildlife health information. WHER was not developed to replace or disrupt how wildlife health organizations/agencies are collecting wildlife health information. Its purpose, in addition to creating a place where the public can easily report their sightings of injured, sick, or dead wild animals, was to become a means by which organizations who are concerned about wildlife disease could get information and also contribute their own wildlife health information for others to view and use.

A recent study uncovered the problem of segregated disease surveillance data as it relates to monitoring for emerging infectious diseases, with or without a wildlife component.

The "siloed" structure of U.S. health agencies is hindering efforts to spot and combat animal-to-human afflictions, such as West Nile Virus, New York University sociologist Colin Jerolmack has concluded after conducting an organizational analysis of their operations.

Working as a hub for information exchange, WHER can help researchers and wildlife biologists connect and join isolated ‘silos’ of wildlife health information to improve wildlife disease surveillance efforts. Also in support of the One Health Initiative, this unified view of wildlife health can also be joined with human and domestic animal health information.

What Makes WHER Such a Nice and Easy System to Collaborate with?

Figure 2: Shows WHER's data inputs and outputs

The Wildlife Health Event Reporter works as an instrument of collaboration because it:

• Shares all the wildlife health information that people enter into the system and makes it available to everyone to use and view in a variety of different formats (e.g. map, table, and downloadable spreadsheet).
  
  
• Makes its data available in XML, a standardized format. As a stream of data, others can easily grab WHER data and mash it with data from their own systems.
  
  
• Pulls in datasets from other sources who make their information available, such as the Children’s Hospital Boston’s HealthMap, and the Seabird Ecological Assessment Network (SEANET). [See Figure 2].  Both are an example of how external organizations can share and automate the delivery of their wildlife health data to WHER to be joined with WHER data for a more comprehensive view of where wildlife disease is occurring. 
  
  
• Collects minimal, but essential data elements for wildlife health surveillance, which means most organizations, if they wish, will have this information to share with WHER.

Do You Have an Available Dataset or Data Stream of Wildlife Health Information?

The WHER team is always looking for wildlife health information that we can add to the Wildlife Health Event Reporter. The more wildlife health surveillance data the system contains only increases the value of WHER and its ability to be used to forecast and predict future disease events. If you have data to share, older or current, we would love to hear from you! Email us at wher@wdin.org.

Santa was impressed with how well WHER shares with others. Hopefully you are too!

>>> TO WHER

>>> GRAB WHER's ENTIRE DATA STREAM AS AN RSS FEED

 

>>> CHOOSE OTHER RSS OPTIONS

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Browse complete Digest publication library here.

Distribution and Environmental Persistence of the Causative Agent of White-Nose Syndrome, Geomyces destructans, in Bat Hibernacula of the Eastern United States
Appl Environ Microbiol. 2012 Dec 14. [Epub ahead of print]
JM Lorch et al.

Disease emergence and invasions
Functional Ecology. 2012 Dec; 26(6): 1275–1287
MJ Hatcher et al.

Facts and dilemmas in diagnosis of tuberculosis in wildlife
Comp Immunol Microbiol Infect Dis. 2012 Dec 5. pii: S0147-9571(12)00124-5. doi: 10.1016/j.cimid.2012.10.010. [Epub ahead of print]
M Maas et al.

First detection of Chlamydia psittaci from a wild native passerine bird in New Zealand
N Z Vet J. 2012 Dec 11. [Epub ahead of print]
B Gartrell et al.

Tawny frogmouths and brushtail possums as sentinels for Angiostrongylus cantonensis, the rat lungworm
Vet Parasitol. 2012 Nov 12. pii: S0304-4017(12)00592-4. doi: 10.1016/j.vetpar.2012.11.009. [Epub ahead of print]
G Ma et al.

Diseases at the livestock–wildlife interface: Status, challenges, and opportunities in the United States
Preventive Veterinary Medicine. 2012; [Epub ahead of print]. doi:10.1016/j.prevetmed.2012.11.021
RS Miller et al.

Otitis Media Associated with Cryptosporidium baileyi in a Saker Falcon (Falco cherrug)
Journal of Comparative Pathology. 2012; [Epub ahead of print]. DOI: 10.1016/j.jcpa.2012.09.005
PA Bougiouklis et al.

Wildlife Health in Australia - November 2012 [pdf]
Volume 10, Issue 2

Emerging Infectious Diseases - December 2012
Volume 18, Number 12

The Wildlifer - December 2012
Issue 393

Special Series: Zoonoses
The Lancet. 2012 Dec 01; 380(9857)

Host–parasite interactions in a fragmented landscape
International Journal of Parasitology. 2012; [Epub ahead of print]
AR Renwick and X Lambin et al.


Diseases of Aquatic Organisms - December 2012 
Volume 102, Number 1

Animal Health Surveillance Quarterly Report - December 2012
Volume 17, Issue 3

• Australian Wildlife Health Network Report [pdf]
• Aquatic animal health Report [pdf]

Replication of 2 Subtypes of Low-Pathogenicity Avian Influenza Virus of Duck and Gull Origins in Experimentally Infected Mallard Ducks
Vet Pathol. 2012 Dec 14. [Epub ahead of print]
PY Daoust et al.

Herpes virus infection associated with interstitial nephritis in a beaked whale (Mesoplodon densirostris)
BMC Veterinary Research. 2012; 8:243 doi:10.1186/1746-6148-8-243
M Arbelo et al.

Patterns of Stranding and Mortality in Common Seals (Phoca vitulina) and Grey Seals (Halichoerus grypus) in The Netherlands between 1979 and 2008
Journal of Comparative Pathology. 2012; 147(4): 550–565
N Osinga et al.

Impact of external sources of infection on the dynamics of bovine tuberculosis in modelled badger populations
BMC Vet Res. 2012 Jun 27;8:92. doi: 10.1186/1746-6148-8-92.
JL Hardstaff et al.

Professional Individual Subscriptions and 12 Days of the Wildlife Health Event Reporter

Professional Individual Subscriptions Now Available! Sign up and Support the Digest!

Courtesy of Cartoon Resource

We know reading yet other funding campaign message is like eating grandma’s traditional Christmas fruit cake to make her happy, but really we are getting closer to our goal.

In an effort to develop donation options that will work for different supports, we are rolling out the latest - the Professional Individual Subscription. This option came about through a suggestion by one our wonderful Digest readers. As a wildlife professional, she wanted a way to support the Digest through her workplace. The Digest is a resource that she has come to use regularly for her work.

Wildlife professionals make up over half of the Digest’s readership. This annual subscription of $40 was designed for the wildlife professional and can potentially raise significant funds towards our goal, but only if our readers use it.

While we are excited to offer this contribution option, we do encourage organizations to consider an Institutional Subscription because of the benefits they will receive such as the promotion of their organization through the Digest. (See benefits chart here).

As an alternative, the Professional Individual Subscription enables an wildlife professional to support the Digest as well as WDIN’s other services and products, but excludes the additional benefits.

For those who have made contributions, THANK YOU! Your generosity is most appreciated! If you haven’t already, consider making a donation today! There are so many ways you can support the Digest and WDIN's other products and services.  Click on the option that works best for you and give today!

Support through an Institutional Subscriptions
Institutions interested in supporting the Digest and other WDIN products and services review our subscription levels and choose the level that works for you and begin receiving the benefits for signing up.

Support through a Professional Individual Subscription
Wildlife professional can get an individual subscription through their business account. To begin the process, complete the request form and an invoice will be issued to your organizations. You will have the option to pay by check or credit card.

Make an Individual Donation
Through the University of Wisconsin Foundation, different giving options are available, including one-time gifts, or annual or monthly pledges. Find the one that works for you here and donate now. Your donation is tax deductible and December 31 is almost here!

Share Your Funding Ideas
Tell us about upcoming grant request for proposals and other funding opportunities that you feel match our mission to increase access to wildlife health information and data. Email your ideas to us at digest@wdin.org.

You have come to rely on us to bring you the latest wildlife disease news and developments, and now we are relying on you. Make a contribution today so WDIN can keep delivering the Digest you.

We love keeping you informed!
The WDIN Team

Cris Marsh
Megan Hines
Vicki Szewczyk
Dr. Kurt Sladky

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Twelve Days of the Wildlife Health Event Reporter
Day 6: In a Holiday Crisis Santa is on His Own, but in a Wildlife Health Emergency, WHER can Help! 

If Christmas was in peril - like when the Grinch stole Christmas - the Wildlife Health Event Reporter (WHER) couldn’t do much to help save the holiday. We’d have to rely on Santa and the elves to do that. But WHER could be useful when the next wildlife health emergency (e.g. oil spill or avian botulism outbreak) occurs, which unfortunately is inevitable.

Because WHER is capable of collecting observations about any species, at any place, for any disease, it can be used at a moments notice to record wildlife health sightings related to a specific event. With help from the WHER team, a specific project name within WHER could be established and observations related to the wildlife emergency could be recorded and available under that project name.

Depending on the scale of the emergency, there may be many responders from different groups involved, such as organized volunteer corps, multiple state and/or federal agencies, and non-profit wildlife and/or environmental groups. In the midst of a crisis, WHER keeps things simple - and it is already available! It collects only minimal yet valuable surveillance information and makes that information available across traditional geographic and political boundaries. Centralizing this organized information can help responders manage observations of a wildlife health incident, facilitate effective cross-group communications, and broaden current awareness.

Our Christmas wish for the coming year is that wildlife populations will remain healthy and without major incidence of disease.  When the next wildlife health situation occurs, consider WHER to coordinate and manage response efforts.

>> TO WHER

>>> TO ENTIRE 12 Days of WHER SERIES (so far) 

12 Days of WHER and Today's Wildlife Disease News

Twelve Days of the Wildlife Health Event Reporter
Day 5: The Island of Misfit Wildlife Health Observations

Island of Misfit Toys in Rudolph the Red-Nosed Reindeer.

For those who do not know that they can use the Wildlife Health Event Reporter (WHER), www.wher.org, to report their sighting of injured, sick or dead wild animals (hard to believe right?), they may try calling their state wildlife agency or a local wildlife rehabilitation center.

But what if the person on the other side of the line cannot help due to extenuating circumstances, such as the animal cannot be contained or is dead? What happens to these observations? They may not fit well into a traditional wildlife surveillance system managed by the center or agency, and therefore may be in danger of being shipped off to the lonely Island of Misfit Wildlife Health Observations!
But these valuable sightings can be rescued if they are entered into WHER! Once in the system, they are joined in merriment with observations made by others and can begin to provide a near-real time view of where wildlife health issues are happening.

WHER can be used to rescue these odd observations because the system only requires very basic data  essential to wildlife surveillance efforts. Information collected about wildlife health events includes:

• Event date
• Location
• Animal species involved
• Actions taken with the animal(s)
• Noteworthy environmental observations surrounding the event
• Contacts made (e.g. to a wildlife state agency or wildlife rehabilitation center)
• Diagnosis (aka cause of death) if available, can be back-entered for an event

Save the Misfit Observations!

We invite state, federal and all wildlife agencies, rehab centers and any other wildlife organizations to suggest WHER as a destination where citizen callers can enter their important wildlife health observations. You can download a brochure to distribute HERE. Spread the word about WHER and help rescue those valuable, misfit observations.

>>> TO WHER

>>> TO WHER BROCHURE  [pdf]

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TOP STORIES

Bad news for bats: deadly fungus persists in caves

Researchers have found that the organism that causes deadly white-nose syndrome persists in caves long after it has killed the bats in those caves. A study just published in Applied and Environmental Microbiology shows that the fungus can survive in soil for months, even years, after the bats have departed.

This is not good news for the bat population, says lead author Jeff Lorch, a research associate in the Department of Forest and Wildlife Ecology at the University of Wisconsin-Madison.

"We have found that caves and mines, which remain cool year-round, can serve as reservoirs for the fungus, so bats entering previously infected sites may contract white-nose syndrome from that environment. This represents an important and adverse transmission route."

University of Wisconsin-Madison News - www.news.wisc.edu

14 Dec 2012

D Tenenbaum

>>> FULL ARTICLE

More White-Nose Syndrome News

>>> White-nose syndrome in Pa. bats could lead to endangered status, affect jobs [Pennsylvanian, USA]

Scientists Develop Novel Method to Study Parasite Numbers in Wild Seabirds

Scientists have developed a new method for studying parasite numbers in the stomachs of individual seabirds in the wild. The technique enables the recording of video footage of worms inside seabird stomachs and is an important step forward in understanding the impact of parasites on seabird populations.

...The research team trialled the use of endoscopy, often used in human and veterinary medicine but rarely in field situations, to measure natural parasite loads, or burdens, of European shags, a member of the cormorant family. The new study is part of ongoing work into how different factors such as gut parasites might affect the breeding success or survival of seabirds.

Science Daily - www.sciencedaily.com

13 Dec 2012

>>> FULL ARTICLE

Journal Article Cited

S Burthe et al. Endoscopy as a novel method for assessing endoparasite burdens in free-ranging European shags (Phalacrocorax aristotelis). Methods in Ecology and Evolution, 2012; DOI: 10.1111/2041-210x.12015

OTHER WILDLIFE HEALTH RELATED NEWS

From the Guardian's Week in Wildlife: An elk runs in a field near
the village of Ratsevo, Belarus.
Photo credit: V Fedosenko/Reuters

• Ontario moose herd 'healthy' despite US concerns [Ontario, Canada]
• Illegal wildlife trade threatens national security, says WWF report
• South Dakota deer die from virus at record levels[EHD]
• King Crabs Poised to Wipe Out Rare Antarctic Ecosystem of Invertebrates [Scientific American]
• Officials call for limits on use of super-toxic rat poison

Chronic Wasting Disease

• Deer sampling for chronic wasting disease is now voluntary [Pennsylvania, USA]
• Second Deer Positive for CWD at Davis County Hunting Preserve [Bloomfield, Iowa, USA - Map It ]
• Adams County has its first deer test positive for CWD [Lake Arrowhead, Wisconsin, USA - Map It  ]

One Health News Corner

• Virus-Host Co-Evolution: How Specialized Should a Strain of a Multi-Host Virus Be?
• USAID Emerging Pandemic Threats Program Trains 1,500 in Infectious Disease Surveillance, Diagnostics and Outbreak Response and Identifies 200 Novel Viruses
• The Nature Deficit Disorder and How it is Impacting our Natural World—An Interview with Dr. Michael Hutchins [National Geographic]
• CDC Releases Final West Nile Virus Update For 2012

Huh?! That's Interesting!

• Guess what dolphins and crickets have in common

In the Spotlight: Twelve Days of the Wildlife Health Event Reporter

Twelve Days of the Wildlife Health Event Reporter
Day Four: Holiday Advertising Fatigue? WHER's 'Ads' Only Spread Desired Information!

Example thank you message from WHER for a report submission including
additional instructions as to when and how to contact their agency.

What we advertise or share with WHER’s reporters are additional steps, if available, about when and who they should follow up with in regards to their report. In some cases within the ‘thank you for your submission’ message, state agencies and other organizations interested in wildlife health sightings have provided contact instructions and details about what they want to know.

For example, when a sighting has been reported in Wisconsin, inside of the thank you message, the Wisconsin Department of Natural Resources provides the following instructional information:

The Wisconsin Department of Natural Resources has an active Wildlife Health monitoring program and in certain situations may want to follow up to obtain samples for disease testing. This would include reports involving a group of 5 or more sick or dead animals and for certain individual species/types of animals.

Please go to the WDNR website: http://dnr.wi.gov and search by “wildlife health” for the most current information on when to contact your local WDNR office.”

Invitation to Professional Organizations to Include Your Contact Information in WHER to share with the Public

As a member of a state agency or other organization such as a wildlife care center, do you want to know when a certain kind of report is made to WHER by the public in your state, such as events that involve a specific number of animals or a certain species?  Help us let the public know when you want them to take that extra step to contact you. We invite you to send us your details and desires at wher@wdin.org -- be sure to include the appropriate contact information and specific directions on the type of WHER reports you are interested in hearing more about.

If you observe a wildlife health event while out doing your holiday shopping, before you unpack your shopping bags, make your report to WHER!

>>> TO WHER

>>> SEE ALL DAYS OF WHER TO DATE

12 Days of WHER and Today's Wildlife Disease News Stories

Twelve Days of the Wildlife Health Event Reporter 
Day Three: Searching for that Perfect Gift? (That would be WHER data of course!)

As we have mentioned the Wildlife Health Event Reporter (WHER), www.wher.org, is an online system that anyone can use to report their sightings of injured/sick/dead wild animals and receive alerts about new reports. But if everyone is contributing reporters to WHER, you probably want to know what kind of data gifts can WHER give back to you?

 

With your WHER account (which, of course, as a Digest reader who cares about wildlife health issues, you already have) you can take advantage of WHER's search function. You can combine options from over 10 different search filters (e.g. by date, species, and/or location) to create your own data wish list. The results from your search can be viewed online on a map or in a table. In addition, you can download your data package into an excel spreadsheet to review on your own computer, pull into mapping applications, and other packages.

Go to WHER and find your gift of WHER data today! The perfect gift for the wildlife enthusiast who has everything! 

>>> SIGN IN AND SEARCH WHER

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TOP STORIES

Stone Soup for Thanksgiving: Understanding Bird Disease through Citizen Science

When somebody opens their front door to pick up the morning newspaper and sees a dead bird below their hedge, they get curious for answers. As soon as they stoop down for a closer look, an Indiana Jones adventure unfolds within the confines of their backyard. Was it poison, disease, predation, starvation, old age? Is this a fluke or widespread plague? Perhaps dead birds like this one are widely scattered across a country. But, if so, what sort of scientific method could find answers to what happened to them all?

When my colleagues and I carry out research using citizen science methods, ... we have a big blank spreadsheet and curious folk are enticed to each add their observations, ultimately creating a robust database with observations from across a continent.

Through citizen science I study healthy birds, but several of my colleagues focus on the sick and dying ones.  ...a research team led by Becki Lawson, a veterinarian and ecologist, reported a new strain of avian pox spreading in a common backyard bird in Great Britain. Citizen science participation was pivotal to tracking the outbreak, unraveling its mysteries, and informing localized studies.

As we've been advocating through our series, Twelve Days of the Wildlife Health Event Reporter (WHER), wildlife health observations reported by the everyday citizen are valuable. Each of your reports contributes to a better understanding of wildlife disease ecology.

Get signed up today at www.wher.org!  Join the effort to spot possible health threats in your community!

Science American - blogs.scienceamerican.com

21 Nov 2012

C Cooper

>>> FULL ARTICLE

More News on Help from Citizen Scientists

>>> ‘Citizen scientists’ classify wildlife: The U’s Lion Research Center gets help analyzing animals in Tanzania

Emerging virus in raccoons may provide cancer clues

Rare brain tumors emerging among raccoons in Northern California and Oregon may be linked to a previously unidentified virus discovered by a team of researchers, led by scientists from the University of California, Davis. Their findings, published today in the journal Emerging Infectious Diseases, could lead to a better understanding of how viruses can cause cancer in animals and humans.

...The common factor, found in all of the tumors, was a newly described virus, dubbed raccoon polyomavirus. Researchers suspect this virus contributes to tumor formation.

Polyomaviruses, which are prevalent but rarely cause cancer, do not typically cross from one species to another, so the outbreak is not expected to spread to people or other animals.

UC Davis News and Information - news.ucdavis.edu

12 Dec 2012

>>> PRESS RELEASE

Wildlife Health Bulletin: Cyanobacterial Disease Killing Coral on Kauai, Hawaii

An unusual coral mortality event on the north shore of the Hawaiian island of Kauai is currently being investigated. The USGS National Wildlife Health Center Honolulu Field Station (HFS) is collaborating with the Hawaii Institute of Marine Biology at the University of Hawaii in this coral disease investigation. Scientists have visited two different sites, which are near Hanalei Bay, multiple times to take samples and document extent of the damage. Samples from the lesions have been tested and scientists have determined that a cyanobacterial infection is associated with tissue loss and death. At both sites, coral reefs were heavily degraded with overgrowth of turf algae as well as sediment deposits. See photos at Cyanobacterial Disease in Montipora Coral.

This coral disease outbreak is the first instance where cyanobacterial disease on a large scale has been documented in corals in Hawaii. Lesions are covering 10 – 80 percent of affected colonies. The consistent presentation of gross and microscopic lesions and the absence of this disease in corals elsewhere in Hawaii indicate that this outbreak is an epizootic currently limited to the north shore of Kauai. The HFS has archived tissues of a similar disease in Hanalei Bay from 2009 indicating that cyanobacterial disease in corals on north Kauai has been around since that time.

National Wildlife Health Center - www.nwhc.usgs.gov

07 Dec 2012

>>> ENTIRE BULLETIN [pdf]

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 December 6, 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.

USGS National Wildlife Health Center

06 Dec 2012

Location:US

>>> Updated Wildlife Mortality Event Table

OTHER WILDLIFE HEALTH RELATED NEWS

• Nearly 6,000 Nebraska deer dead from disease [epizootic hemorrhagic disease][Nebraska, USA]
• The CDC for wildlife: ​National center at forefront of wildlife disease research

Marine Wildlife Health News

• Reducing underwater noise to help health of marine wildlife
• Beached whale dies in Spain [San Sebastian, Spain - Map It ]
• Humboldt Squid Stranding Themselves In Santa Cruz County [Santa Cruz Co., California, USA - Map It ]
• Whale washes up on Bald Head Island [Bald Head Island, North Carlina, USA - Map It ]

Chronic Wasting Disease News

• State Receives Approval for CWD Herd Certification Program [Wisconsin, USA]
• CWD-positive deer found outside management zone in Grant County [Grant Co., Wisconsin - Map It ]
• 2nd Pa. deer negative for chronic wasting disease [Pennsylvania, USA]

White-Nose Syndrome News

• No Bats Yet in Artificial Tennessee Cave
• White Nose Syndrome In Bats Could Yield Clues About AIDS
• White nose syndrome: A frightening prospect for bats in Washtenaw County [Michigan, USA]

One Health News Corner

• NIH scientists reflect on gains in emerging infectious disease awareness, research and response
• New coronavirus has many potential hosts, could pass from animals to humans repeatedly
• Indonesia says it has found more virulent bird flu strain
• Healthy whales, healthy Alaskans
• ProMED: Undiagnosed mortality, ovine - Nigeria: (Sokoto) Request for Information
• Mad-Cow Disease May Hold Clues To Other Neurological Disorders
• New Avian Flu Outbreak Hits China [H5N2 HPAI][China]
• Margaret Atwood: Rachel Carson's Silent Spring, 50 years on

Huh?! That's Interesting!
Elk bones tell stories of life, death, and habitat use at Yellowstone National Park

It Ain't All Bad News
Bat fan visits Boston to learn about disease: Population dwindling as result of fungus

12 Days of WHER and the Wildlife Disease Journal Digest

Twelve Days of the Wildlife Health Event Reporter
Day Two: Hark! I Received an Alert from WHER!

As described earlier, the Wildlife Health Event Reporter (WHER) is an online reporting tool that we invite everyone to use to report their sightings of injured, sick and dead wildlife.  It not only accepts your observations of wildlife health events - the system is also a giver!  WHER provides information back to anyone who is interested in viewing the data collected since 2010.

One of the many ways you can keep on top of what has been reported to WHER is through its alerting options.  Currently, you can choose to have reports delivered to you by email or RSS.   Email alerts are delivered daily, but only if reports were made the previous day.  For the more eager audience, RSS subscriptions deliver data to users nearly immediately when a report is made to WHER. 

Alert Options

Now that we have your attention, we're sure you want to know how to sign up so that you can see where wildlife health reports are being made - like what is being reported in your area.  If you want to know about ALL the events reported to WHER, select one of these options:

• GeoRSS [alerts are available in near-real time]
• GeoRSS in Google Maps [plot near-real time alerts on a Google Map]
• Email Alerts [alerts summarized daily]

Are you more selective about what reports you want to receive?  Currently you can limit alerts to a location (at the state or equivalent administrative unit).  Go to this instructional page at http://whmn-wher.blogspot.com/p/feedsemail-alerts.html and select to receive alerts for only those geographical areas that you are interested.  Zoom to the location, click the green marker, and pick from the options just like above.

What are Your Ideas for Interesting Alerts? 

Once you start receiving WHER alerts, you will probably start dreaming about what other kinds of alerts from WHER would be useful for your needs, such as an alert for a specific species or family of interest, or by the number of animals involved in an event.  We invite you to check out a mock up we've created for expanding the current alerting system.  The major upgrades would include more fine-tuned filters by species, location, or size - as well as deliver alerts via text messages.  Email us your ideas or general feedback on the alerts to us at wher@wdin.org.

>>> TO WHER

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Browse complete Digest publication library here.

Pathology in euthermic bats with white nose syndrome suggests a natural manifestation of immune reconstitution inflammatory syndrome
Virulence. 2012 Nov 15; 3(7): [Epub]
CU Meteyer et al.

New viral pathogens from wildlife [no online abstract]
Bull Mem Acad R Med Belg. 2011;166(10-12):399-403
PA Barrow and A Abu-Median

Synanthropy of wild mammals as a determinant of emerging infectious diseases in the Asian-Australasian region
Ecohealth. 2012 Mar;9(1):24-35
R McFarlane et al.

Coronavirus genotype diversity and prevalence of infection in wild carnivores in the Serengeti National Park, Tanzania
Arch Virol. 2012 Dec 5;
KV Goller et al.

West Nile virus associations in wild mammals: a synthesis
Arch Virol. 2012 Dec 2;
J Root J et al.

Serosurveillance for Livestock Pathogens in Free-Ranging Mule Deer (Odocoileus hemionus)
PLoS One. 2012;7(11):e50600
RA Swift et al. Torres S, Jones K, Johnson CK


Genetic Predictions of Prion Disease Susceptibility in Carnivore Species Based on Variability of the Prion Gene Coding Region
PLoS ONE. 2012; 7(12): e50623. doi:10.1371/journal.pone.0050623
P Stewart et al.

Molecular Surveillance of Low Pathogenic Avian Influenza Viruses in Wild Birds across the United States: Inferences from the Hemagglutinin Gene
PLoS ONE. 2012; 7(12): e50834. doi:10.1371/journal.pone.0050834
AJ Piaggio et al.

Epidemiology. Emerging disease or diagnosis? [No online abstract]
Science. 2012 Nov 9;338(6108):750-2. doi: 10.1126/science.1225893.
SK Gire et al.

Seasonal Effects on Great Ape Health: A Case Study of Wild Chimpanzees and Western Gorillas
PLoS ONE. 2012; 7(12): e49805. doi:10.1371/journal.pone.0049805
S Masi et al.

Detection and identification of Chlamydophila psittaci in asymptomatic parrots in Poland
BMC Veterinary Research. 2012; 8:233 doi:10.1186/1746-6148-8-233
T Piasecki et al.

Emerging Infectious Diseases in 2012: 20 Years after the Institute of Medicine Report
mBio. 2012 Dec 11; 3(6): no. 6 e00494-12. doi: 10.1128/​mBio.00494-12
DM Morens and AS Fauci

A horizon scanning assessment of current and potential future threats to migratory shorebirds
IBIS. 2012 Oct; 154(4):663–679
WJ Sutherland et al.

Digital Surveillance: A Novel Approach to Monitoring the Illegal Wildlife Trade
PLoS ONE. 2012; 7(12): e51156. doi:10.1371/journal.pone.0051156
AL Sonricker Hansen et al.

UC Davis Veterinary Medicine: California Animal Health and Food Safety Laboratory System Newsletter [pdf]


Courtesy of the Australian Wildlife Health Network (Check out their pretty new website!)


An atypical genotype of Toxoplasma gondii as a cause of mortality in Hector's dolphins (Cephalorhynchus hectori)
Veterinary Parasitology. 2012; [Epub ahead of print]. doi: 10.1016/j.vetpar.2012.11.001
WD Roe et al.

Biodiversity Conservation and Utilization in a Diverse World [New Book - Some Open Access. See chapter 11 on ‘Marine Environment and Public Health’]

Cygnet river virus, a novel orthomyxovirus from ducks, Australia
Emerg Infect Dis. Dec;18(12):2044-6. doi: 10.3201/eid1812.120500
Kessell A, et al.