TOP STORIES

DEP: 90% of Hibernia Mine's bats are dead
Daily Record - www.dailyrecord.com
07 Jul 2009
R Jennings
Area: Hibernia Mine, Morris County, New Jersey, USA - Map It

More than 90 percent of the 30,000 bats within the Hibernia Mine are dead amid rising concerns about a mysterious illness decimating their numbers throughout the Northeast.

A U.S. Senate hearing on Wednesday will feature testimony on white-nose syndrome, a disease of unknown origins causing the winged mammals to lose stored body fat and eventually die. It is named for the white, powdery fungus growing on the bat's muzzle.

"We must ensure that everything possible is being done to prevent an ecological disaster,'' U.S. Sen. Frank Lautenberg, D-N.J., said in a statement.

>>>FULL ARTICLE

Related News
>>>Missouri on alert for mysterious bat illness
>>>Cave Attractions Taking Precautions [Tennessee]
>>>State Caves Closed To Prevent Bat Disease [Tennessee]
>>>Get in on annual bat count [Delaware]

Disease runs riot as species disappear
NewScientist - www.newscientist.com
01 Jul 2009
D MacKenzie

COULD biodiversity protect humans from disease? Conservationists have long suspected it might, and now they have the evidence to back this up.

Keeping complex ecosystems intact is thought to pay big dividends, by preserving natural balances among species that keep animal diseases in check. These includes zoonoses - animal diseases that affect humans.

Rodents in the Americas carry hantaviruses, which can be lethal to people who inhale them from dried droppings. Some 500 people a year in the US die after being infected with the "sin nombre" hantavirus (SNV) from the common deer mouse.

>>>FULL ARTICLE

Cited Journal Article
>>>Increased Host Species Diversity and Decreased Prevalence of Sin Nombre Virus. Emerg Infect Dis. 2009 Jul; 15(7).

Coral Reefs Exposed To Imminent Destruction From Climate Change
ScienceDaily - www.sciencedaily.com (Source: Zoological Society of London)
06 Jul 2009
Photo credit: iStockphoto/Pawel Borowka

Coral reef survival is balancing on a knife edge as the combined effects of ocean acidification and ocean warming events threaten to push reefs to the brink of extinction this century, warned a meeting of leading scientists.

Organised by ZSL, the International Programme on the State of the Ocean (IPSO) and the Royal Society, the meeting identified the level of atmospheric CO2 predicted to result in the demise of coral reefs.

At anticipated rates of emission increase, it is expected that 450 ppm CO2 will be reached before 2050. At that point, corals may be on a path to extinction within a matter of decades.

>>>FULL ARTICLE

Related News
>>>Just add lime (to the sea) – the latest plan to cut CO2 emissions
>>>Reef bounces back from injury

Sylvatic Plague detected in Badlands National Park
Rapid City Journal - www.rapidcityjournal.com
07 Jul 2009
Area: Badlands National Park, Pennington County, South Dakota, USA - Map It

Badlands National Park official are encouraging visitors to use common-sense safety precautions around wildlife in the park, following the confirmation of sylvatic plague and tularemia among park prairie dogs.

Sylvatic plague was confirmed July 1 in a prairie dog colony in the Sage Creek Wilderness Area in the park.

This marks the first time the flea-borne bacterial disease, which can decimate prairie dog populations and pose a threat to endangered black-footed ferrets, has been confirmed in the park itself.

>>>FULL ARTICLE

Vets learn how to track disease
Medical News - www.news-medical.net
07 Jul 2009

Fourteen veterinarians from Indonesia are learning how to track and stop the spread of animal borne diseases in a three-week training program hosted by the University of Sydney.

The program is part of the Australian Aid Agency (AusAid) Australian Leadership Awards Fellowships (ALAF) program and aims to equip Indonesian veterinary epidemiologists with important skills to improve surveillance, detection and monitoring of animal borne diseases.

"Animal borne diseases that cause a high rate of death when humans are infected, such as bird flu and rabies, are an immediate problem in Indonesia.

>>>FULL ARTICLE

Related News
>>>Oregon Ag Dept. Deputizes Private Vets for Disaster Response

OTHER WILDLIFE HEALTH RELATED NEWS
Photo credit: John Gavin/Boston.com

• Photographer of the Week: John Gavin [incredible wildlife photos]
• Senate hearing focuses on threats to wildlife [watch webcast here]
• US-Mexico Border Wall Could Threaten Wildlife Species
• Future looks bleak for many species
• 'WATCHABLE WILDLIFE' COMES ALIVE [New York]
• Public health resource guide on harmful algal blooms now available
• Avian Bacterium More Dangerous Than Believed
• Health Departments Get Mixed Marks for Using Web to Communicate about Flu Crisis, Study Finds
• Elevated Mercury Levels In Prairie Lakes Examined
• New Report: Dengue Fever a Looming Threat in the United States

Frogs

• Scientists hope protections help leopard frog return [Wyoming]
• Saving the environment from behind bars [endangered Oregon spotted frogs]
• Frogs Combat Deadly Fever? [Dengue Fever, Argentina]

WILDLIFE HEALTH RELATED PUBLICATIONS
Browse complete Digest publication library here.

Journal of Zoo and Wildlife Medicine - June 2009
Volume 40, Issue 2

Growth and survival of Northern leopard frog (Rana pipiens) tadpoles exposed to two common pesticides
Environ Toxicol Chem. 2009 Feb 23:1. [Epub ahead of print]
K Shenoy et al.

Variation in plumage microbiota depends on season and migration
Microb Ecol. 2009 Jul;58(1):212-20. Epub 2009 Feb 11
IA Bisson et al.

Genetic variability of the prion protein gene (PRNP) in wild ruminants from Italy and Scotland
J Vet Sci. 2009 Jun;10(2):115-20
S Peletto et al.

Avian influenza and Newcastle disease viruses from northern pintail in Japan: isolation, characterization and inter-annual comparisons during 2006-2008
Virus Res. 2009 Jul;143(1):44-52. Epub 2009 Mar 14
A Jahangir et al.