TOP STORIES
Capital Times – www.madison.com
13 May 2008
A Weier
About 100 bats that died of a mysterious syndrome in the northeastern United States are being analyzed at the U.S. Geological Survey's National Wildlife Health Center in Madison.
The illness, which has resulted in the deaths of thousands of bats found since March at more than 25 caves and mines, is referred to as "white-nose syndrome" because of a white substance on the muzzles and wings of dead and hibernating bats.
. . . "When we receive the carcasses, we examine them for signs of trauma before we look inside, to see whether a predator attacked or they might have been electrocuted. In the case of these bats, there was none of that," said Anne Ballmann, a wildlife disease specialist with the National Wildlife Health Center.
. . . After that analysis, the bats are opened up and tissue samples obtained for virus and bacteria screening, and any fungus on the surface of the bats is analyzed.
"There is also some hypothesis that this may be toxic-related, so we are checking for pesticide residues," she said.
Deadly bird disease found in the strathStrathspey & Badenoch Herald - www.strathspey-herald.co.uk/news
14 May 2008
Location: Newtonmore, Scotland - Map It
Photo courtesy of Strathspey & Badenoch Herald
AN outbreak of a parasite which slowly blocks the throats and kills one of the country's most common birds has been identified in Strathspey.
Scottish Natural Heritage (SNH) has confirmed two reports in the Newtonmore area so far of the deadly disease, Trichomonas, which is found amongst species of greenfinches and chaffinches.
Trichomonas is a parasite which causes inflammation of the gullet and throat and most commonly affects the two species, although the house sparrow is also susceptible to the disease.
A morbillivirus is putting dolphins through hoops!
CIRAD – www.cirad.fr
11 May 2008
Location: France
Growing numbers of cetaceans are becoming beached along the coasts of France, notably due to a fast-spreading virus, or more precisely a morbillivirus. Other morbilliviruses also affect carnivores and domestic and wild ruminants.
In 1990, a morbillivirus epidemic began in the seas off Spain, before spreading to the French Mediterranean coast. In all, 160 dead striped dolphins and white whales were found on French beaches. Altogether, more than a thousand were found around the Mediterranean. In the summer of 2007, the epidemic recurred, infecting more than 126 cetaceans, this time including the species known as bottlenose dolphins.
Cadmium May Be Eel-KillerDiscovery News – dsc.discovery.com
13 May 2008
J Marshall
The European eel slithers its way more than 3,400 miles downstream to the ocean to spawn -- but cadmium accumulated upriver may make the voyage fruitless for the highly endangered species.
So finds a new study by researchers at the Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique in Arcachon, France who exposed eels to cadmium in the laboratory and found that although the eggs of cadmium-exposed eels initially matured faster in the ovaries, the eggs -- and the eels -- were more likely to die than unexposed eels.
"They show that a moderate cadmium concentration is already almost lethal to the eel," said Willem Dekker of Wageningen IMARES, a marine research institute in IJmuiden in the Netherlands, who was not involved in the new study.
Idaho raptor group: Study confirms lead fragments in venison
Seattle Times – seattletimes.nwsource.com (sources Associated Press)
13 May 2008
An Idaho raptor group working to eliminate lead from ammunition released findings Tuesday it said shows that ground venison from 80 percent of deer killed with high-velocity lead bullets contains metal fragments.
The Peregrine Fund, based in Boise, and researchers from Washington State University in Pullman, Wash., say it is further evidence people who eat meat from game animals shot with lead bullets risk exposure to the toxic metal.
Separately, the North Dakota Health Department and the federal Centers for Disease Control and Prevention are planning a study on nearly 700 people who eat meat from wild game harvested with lead bullets, to determine health risks, if any.
The suggestion that lead bullets could make venison unsafe for humans has prompted outrage from pro-hunting groups such as Safari Club International, of Somerset, N.J., and the Connecticut-based National Shooting Sports Foundation, a firearms industry group, after North Dakota and Minnesota in March and April instructed food banks there to pull hunter-donated venison from their shelves.
Fire crews try to aid dying fish
BBC News - news.bbc.co.uk
11 May 2008
Location: Abington Park Lake, Northampton, Scotland - Map It
Fire crews were called to a lake after receiving reports from members of the public that a number of fish had died.
They used pumps to remove water and then sprayed it through the air back into Abington Park lake, Northampton, as a way of boosting its oxygen levels.
The Environment Agency is now investigating the cause of the distress caused to the fish.
An agency spokeswoman said the problem was not caused by low oxygen, but could be hot weather or disease.
She said: "We had various reports from the public about fish dying in the lake so we have carried out tests to find out what the problem is.
OTHER WILDLIFE HEALTH NEWS
Photo courtesy of Discovery News
Bird Flu Confirmed in Songpa and Busan – Map It
(Songpa) and MapIt (Busan)- Saving lives and incomes of the rural poor [WWF Study - Saving human lives, crop dollars and income losses for rural poor through needs of wildlife]
- Whale Dissection Opens Rib Mystery [interesting tidbit]
- Watching for West Nile virus; Region begins its annual surveillance program
- Sharpshooters kill 962 deer in northwest Minnesota
- Officials still battling issue of deer and elk ranches: Cost of double-fencing proving to be a stumbling block
High Temperature (30°C) Blocks Aerosol but Not Contact Transmission of Influenza Virus
Journal of Virology. 2008 Jun; 82 (11): 5650-5652 [on-line abstract only]
AC Lowen et al.
No comments:
Post a Comment