TOP STORIES
WNS Not Yet Confirmed In Local Bats
DNR Online - www.dnronline.com
19 Jun 2009
J Jones
Location: Virgina, USA
It remains unclear whether bats found earlier this year in Endless Caverns were infected with a mysterious fungus that has wiped out hundreds of thousands of bats in the Northeast.
. . . In April, biologists with the Virginia Department of Game and Inland Fisheries discovered bats in Endless Caverns, a commercial show cave near New Market, with symptoms of WNS.
Rick Reynolds, a state game department wildlife biologist, sent three bats suspected of having the disease from Endless Caverns to a national testing facility in Madison, Wis.
On Monday, Reynolds said the lab had trouble culturing the fungus from the bats, making it difficult to determine whether the specimens in fact had the disease.
The lab will likely perform other tests on the bats, including a histopathology - a microscopic examination of tissue, but it may be some time before the results are available, he said.
Antibacterial found in dolphins
Environmental Health News
18 Jun 2009
K Kidd
Location: USA - Charleston, South Carolina - Map It
and Indian River Lagoon, Florida - Map It For the first time, the popular antibacterial agent triclosan is found in the blood of a marine mammal.
A bacteria-killing chemical widely used in an array of consumer products has made its way down kitchen and bathroom sinks and into dolphins living in US coastal waters.
Researchers report for the first time that a marine mammal – the bottlenose dolphin – is accumulating triclosan from water bodies where treated sewage is released. The study examined animals from rivers, an estuary, a harbor and a lagoon in South Carolina and Florida.
Triclosan is a common additive in soaps, deodorants, toothpastes and other personal care products that is included to help control bacteria and their related illnesses. It is also put into consumer products like socks, cutting boards and garbage bags to curb the growth of bacteria.
Cited Article
Occurrence of triclosan in plasma of wild Atlantic bottlenose dolphins (Tursiops truncatus) and in their environment. Environmental Pollution. 2009; PA Fair
New Atlantic Ocean seal virus found in Kachemak Bay otters
Homer News - www.homernews.com
18 Jun 2009
M Armstrong
Location: Kachemak Bay, Alaska, USA - Map It
Ocean warming could have caused Phocine distemper to spread here
A virus previously seen only in Atlantic Ocean seals has been identified in Alaska sea otters, including three dead otters found in Kachemak Bay from 2005-2007.
In a paper published this month in the Centers for Disease Control's "Emerging Infectious Diseases," phocine distemper virus was documented in dead and live otters tested by biologists studying an unusual mortality event among Alaska sea otters. Ocean warming and a decline in Arctic Ocean sea ice may have lead to the spread of the virus across the arctic.
Cited Journal Article
Phocine Distemper Virus in Northern Sea Otters in the Pacific Ocean, Alaska, USA. EID. 2009 Jun; 15(6). T. Goldstein et al.
State Fish and Game officials look into mystery of dead fish at Lake KaweahVisalia Times-Delta - www.visaliatimesdelta.com
19 Jun 2009
D Castellon
Location: Lake Kaweah, California, USA - Map It
Photo courtesy of Visalia Times-Delta
For Christina Maxwell and her family, a sunny June day held the promise of a great day fishing and swimming near the Slick Rock Recreation Area.
But the Maxwells didn't much feel like getting in the water. The shoreline of the quiet inlet they chose as a day spot was covered in trash and dead fish.
. . . Over the past two weeks, visitors and Army Corps of Engineers park rangers have reported large numbers of dead fish on shore and floating in the water. The California Department of Fish and Game has been called in to find out what killed them.
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