TOP STORIES

Wildlife populations 'plummeting'
BBC News – news.bbc.co.uk
16 May 2008

Between a quarter and a third of the world's wildlife has been lost since 1970, according to data compiled by the Zoological Society of London.

Populations of land-based species fell by 25%, marine by 28% and freshwater by 29%, it says.

. . . Colin Butfield, head of campaigns at WWF UK, said: "Biodiversity underpins the health of the planet and has a direct impact on all our lives, so it is alarming that despite an increased awareness of environmental issues we continue to see a downward trend."

The charity also warned that a failure to stop biodiversity loss would have a direct impact on humans.

>>> FULL ARTICLE

First-ever case of Chronic Wasting Disease in wild elk found in Saskatchewan
Vancouver Sun – www.canada.com/vancouversun/news
D Bernhardt
15 May 2008
Location: near Nipawin, Saskatchewan, Canada – Map It

The first-ever cases of chronic wasting disease (CWD) in wild elk have been discovered in Saskatchewan, but the provincial government hasn't been very public about it.

The animals were found dead west of Nipawin in early April, close to Fort a la Corne in the province's east-central region. An "announcement" was posted May 6 on the Ministry of Environment website but not on the government's main page or distributed as a news release.

"We want to understand the significance of it before we take any radical action," said Rick Ashton, director of resource allocation at the fish and wildlife branch of the ministry. "They were found in an area highly infected with CWD in white-tailed deer. It's just another species. It's not a significant event at this point."

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Study; Great Lakes gulls in poor health
United Press International - www.upi.com
15 May 2008
Location: Great Lakes

It might be assumed stocking the Great Lakes with exotic salmon and trout might be good for gulls but a Canadian study puts that assumption in doubt.

Craig Hebert and colleagues at the Canadian Wildlife Research Center in Ottawa analyzed 25 years of data on the gulls and discovered the Great Lakes birds are in poor health in many areas.

The scientists said fish are the gulls' staple diet, so it would be natural to assume more fish would mean better dining. Instead, the researchers said the addition of species such as exotic salmon hasn't been good for the birds. Tests of their tissues showed an increased in transfats associated with food produced by humans, suggesting the birds have been forced to make a shift from fish to terrestrial food, including garbage, Hebert said.

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Columnaris most likely cause for dying fish in lake
Daily Globe - www.dglobe.com
16 May 2008
S Rall
Location: Minnesota, USA – Map It (Mille Lacs – Sunset Bay) and Map It (Nobles – Okabena Lake)

The phone has been ringing off the wall this week with many concerned property owners and fisherman asking if I knew any thing about all the crappies dying in Lake Okabena and Sunset Bay. These dead fish started to show up in substantial numbers a few days ago and were washing up on shore. . . .

. . . The fish were collected and shipped to the DNR lab in St. Paul and the official results should be available in a few days. There are many possible sources for the die off but the most likely is a fish disease call Columnaris. This is a bacterium that enters the fish through their gills or any damaged areas on the fish’s skin. . .

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Sea lions likely died from the heat
Associated Press – www.ap.com
15 May 2008
Location: Oregon, USA - Map It

The deaths of six sea lions found in traps on the Columbia River earlier this month were likely caused by the heat, and not by gunshots as officials first suspected, the National Marine Fisheries Service said. . . .

Federal and state officials initially said the sea lions had been shot, but they did an about-face after necropsies by state and federal experts found no evidence of bullet wounds.

The fisheries service said Wednesday the results of necropsies on all six animals were consistent with death from heat stroke. Studies of tissue samples taken after the May 4 deaths are expected in about 10 days and might reveal more.

>>> FULL ARTICLE

May Science Picks—Leads, Feeds, and Story Seeds
USGS Newsroom – www.usgs.gov
12 May 2008

Otter Spotters - Since 1982, standardized surveys from land and aircraft, along with other studies, have helped scientists assess changes in this threatened sea otter population, so federal and state wildlife agencies can make informed decisions about its management. Survey results are available

Where's Walrus? Find Out Online [Includes dynamic map] - USGS scientists recently attached satellite radio tags to adult walruses to map foraging locations around the St. Lawrence Island polynya in the Northern Bering Sea. Movements of instrumented walrus can be viewed.

Tick Tick Ticks: Warm Weather is Tick Time - USGS scientist Howard Ginsberg studies how Lyme disease is transmitted in nature by studying ticks and their vertebrate hosts, such as white-footed mice, birds and voles, a small rodent.

Mussels on the Move: Google Mapping Invasive Species - Now, resource managers and the public can see just where the quagga mussels are on a Google map updated daily.

Avoiding the Buzz: West Nile Fever - The USGS, in collaboration with state and federal agencies, is keeping an eye on the virus by testing dead birds and mapping findings and is investigating which bird species are the primary reservoirs for this virus.

Mercury Risks to Fish-Eating Birds in San Francisco Bay - USGS and U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service scientists estimate13 percent of the waterbirds in San Francisco Bay are at high risk for harmful effects due to mercury concentrations in blood and 22 percent at high risk from blood in feathers.

Getting Better Grizzly Bear Numbers - USGS scientist Katherine Kendall and colleagues recently developed a way to more precisely estimate grizzly bear populations.

Intertwined Lives of Red Knots and Horseshoe Crabs - Populations of red knots-small, colorful shorebirds-have declined in recent years due to declines in horseshoe crabs, whose eggs provide nourishment for red knots.

The Shorebird Walk - A walk on the beach can result in unusual discoveries. Trained observers, including USGS scientists, are taking many long, systematic beach walks from April through June looking for the elusive snowy plover shorebird.

>>> View all Science Picks in their entirety

OTHER WILDLIFE HEALTH NEWS

• New mobile incinerator launched for animal disease outbreaks
• Bird flu spreads in Darjeeling – Map It
• Indonesia to provide bird flu data online
• Bird flu virus in S. Korea a type that caused no human infection: report
• Geneticists Trace The Evolution Of St. Louis Encephalitis
• Shorebirds "Defy Gravity" to Eat, Study Says [interesting tidbit]