TOP STORIES
Botulism blamed for dead birds at Great Salt Lake
Google News (source: Associated Press)
19 Sep 2009
M Stark
Location: Utah, USA - Map It
Tens of thousands of dead birds are showing up along the shore of the Great Salt Lake. The Utah Division of Wildlife Resources estimates 20,000 to 50,000 birds have died so far this year from avian botulism, a disease that periodically plagues birds at the lake.
Biologists say the outbreak ramped up in early August and is expected to last into the fall.
This year's outbreak — which has left scores of ducks and avocets dead on shores and marshes — is considered moderate, said Leslie McFarlane, a state wildlife disease expert. A similar episode in 1997 killed more than a half-million birds around the lake.
The botulism bacteria is commonly spread when birds eat maggots from a dead bird that's been infected.
Fish deaths a mystery
The New Zealand Herald - www.nzherald.com
19 Sep 2009
Location: Auckland, New Zealand - Map It
Pilchards that washed up during a month of fish, dolphin and dog deaths did not die of the virus initially blamed for their deaths. MAF Biosecurity said tests on pilchards that washed up near the Whangaparaoa Peninsula and Martins Bay, north of Auckland, in July were negative for the herpes virus. . .
Bat tested for mystery disease
The Daily Times - www.delmarvanow.com
18 Sep 2009
W McKelvey
Location: Delaware, USA - Map It
A bat carcass found in Delaware this summer has been sent to a Wisconsin laboratory to be tested for a mysterious disease that has killed more than one million of the flying mammals since it was first discovered in 2006.
Little is known about the fungal infection, dubbed white nose syndrome for the tell-tale white spores found on the noses of afflicted bats, but researchers say bat colonies in New Jersey, New York and Pennsylvania have seen 90 percent mortality rates.
Researchers To Probe Whether Lyme Disease Will Follow Spread Of Ticks Across U.S.Science Daily - www.sciencedaily.com
17 Sep 2009
Potentially debilitating Lyme disease doesn’t afflict people everywhere that the ticks harboring it are found. At least not yet. A five-university consortium led by a Michigan State University researcher wants to find out why.
“These ticks are on the move. As ticks expand into new areas, more people will likely become infected,” said MSU fisheries and wildlife assistant professor Jean Tsao, who will lead the four-year, $2.5 million study.
TOP READ LINKS FROM LAST WEEK
News
- Study Spells Out Spread of Brain Illness in Animals
- Bat Man vs. White Nose: Thomas Kunz is fighting a killer disease [video]
- Remarkable new species discovered
- Rare bird hatches off Maine coast
- K-State bio lab could be the CDC for animal health
- How hazardous are wind farms for birds?
- Rate of fatal deer disease will increase in southern Wisconsin
- New malaria 'poses human threat'
- Birds versus wind turbines
- CSU gets $2.5M grant for study of chronic-wasting disease
- Asymptomatic deer excrete infectious prions in faeces
- Changes in West Nile Virus Seroprevalence and Antibody Titers among Wisconsin Mesopredators 2003–2006
- Zoonoses in wildlife integrating ecology into management
- Surveillance for Transmissible Spongiform Encephalopathy in Scavengers of White-Tailed Deer Carcasses in the Chronic Wasting Disease Area of Wisconsin [URL repaired from last week]
OTHER WILDLIFE HEALTH RELATED NEWS
Photo courtesy of The Guardian
The week in wildlife [image gallery]
- New Strain Of Malaria Detected In Thailand
- Gov't stands by as mercury taints water
- CDC researchers mix avian, Swine Flu
- DNR vet named new Ind. wildlife director
- Introduced Japanese White-eyes Pose Major Threat To Hawaii's Native And Endangered Birds
- Invasive Species On The March: Variable Rates Of Spread Set Current Limits To Predictability
- Hunt is on for wasting disease [chronic wasting disease]
- Deer in mad cow host fear
