TOP STORIES

AVMA Supports Proposal Calling For More Wildlife and Zoo Veterinarians

The American Veterinary Medical Association (AVMA) today announced its support of newly-introduced federal legislation that will help bolster the nation's supply of veterinarians specializing in the care of wildlife and zoo animals.

The Wildlife and Zoological Veterinary Medicine Enhancement Act, introduced January 21 by U.S. Rep. Alcee Hastings, D-Fla., will fill a critical need in protecting the country's animals, environment and its people.

. . . The legislation also has the support of the Association of American Veterinary Medical Colleges, the American Association of Zoological Veterinarians, the American Association of Wildlife Veterinarians and the National Association of Federal Veterinarians.

Each of the supporting groups cites a lack of wildlife veterinary positions with state, tribal, and federal wildlife resource agencies, as well as in research positions at universities and nongovernmental organizations, as a primary reason the legislation is needed.

AVMA News - www.avma.org/press
25 January 2010

>>> FULL ARTICLE

Link to Legislation
>>> Wildlife and Zoological Veterinary Medicine Enhancement Act of 2010

FWC records unprecedented number of cold-related manatee deaths

The cold period that began Jan. 2 and lasted nearly two weeks continues to impact Florida manatees.

Biologists with the Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission's (FWC) Fish and Wildlife Research Institute documented more than 100 manatee carcasses in state waters from the beginning of the year through Jan. 23. Biologists report that the preliminary cause of death for 77 of these animals is cold stress.

Although pending final review, the number of cold-stress deaths exceeds the previous record of 56 for that category in a single year, which was set in 2009.

Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission - myfwc.com/newsroom
26 January 2010
Location: Florida, USA - Map It

>>> FULL ARTICLE

More Extreme Weather News
>>> Pelicans found dead during cold snap suffered in final days [Dauphin Island, Alabama USA - Map It ]
>>> Dolphin washes up on Cabrillo Beach [Cabrillo Beach, California, USA - Map It ]

G&F sends four elk to slaughter

Four elk captured over the weekend and tested for brucellosis had positive test results and were sent to slaughter Monday morning, according to Wyoming Game and Fish Department public information specialist Mark Gocke.

The four elk were part of a herd of 82 adult female elk subject to blood sampling over the weekend by Game and Fish personnel.

. . . The test-and-removal program is now in its fifth and final year and aims to reduce the brucellosis seroprevalance rate in the Pinedale elk herd unit.

Casper Star-Tribune - www.trib.com
26 January 2010
C Urbigkit
Photo credit: C Urbigkit/Star-Tribune
Location: Boulder, Wyoming, USA - Map It

>>> FULL ARTICLE

Reported Wildlife Mortality Events to the USGS National Wildlife Health Center Updated

USGS and a network of partners across the country work on documenting wildlife mortality events in order to provide timely and accurate information on locations, species and causes of death. This information was updated on January 26, 2010 on the USGS National Wildlife Health Center web page, New and Ongoing Wildlife Mortality Events Nationwide. Quarterly Mortality Reports are also available from this page. These reports go back to 1995.

USGS National Wildlife Health Center
26 January 2010
Area: United States

>>> Updated Wildlife Mortality Event Table

OTHER WILDLIFE HEALTH RELATED NEWS
Photo courtesy of WWF

• Pneumonia outbreak widens; FWP will kill 95 sheep in West Riverside herd [West Riverside, Montana, USA - Map It ]
• Climate Change Threatens to Wipe Out One of World's Largest Tiger Populations this Century [includes video; cited journal article]
• Tests after whale's death on Northumberland coast [Northumberland, England - Map It ]
• Scientists struggle to understand plague that kills insect-eating bats
• California Endangered Species Act Protection Sought to Save Mountain Yellow-legged Frog From Exotic Trout, Habitat Destruction, and Disease
• Parasite Spreading Between Animals, Zookeepers
• Improving Access to Research

Wildlife Conservation

• In pictures: Armadillo sniffer dogs of Brazil [image gallery]
• China puts on Oscar-style ceremony to celebrate heroes of wildlife conservation
• Gardeners Must Unite to Save Britain's Wildlife, Experts Urge [cited journal article]
  

Huh, That's Interesting!

• Cool Video: Dolphin Hunting Trick
• When Built-In Antifreeze Beats a Winter Coat
• Swan Divorce Shocks British Bird Experts

WILDLIFE HEALTH RELATED PUBLICATIONS
Browse complete Digest publication library here.

An Aquatic Disease on a Terrestrial Salamander: Individual and Population Level Effects of the Amphibian Chytrid Fungus, Batrachochytrium dendrobatidis, on Batrachoseps attenuatus (Plethodontidae)
Copeia. 2009 Dec; 2009 (4): 653-660
SB Weinstein

Oceanography - Dec 2009
Special Issue: Future of Ocean Biogeochemistry in a High-CO2 World [Ocean Acidification]
Volume 22, Number 4

Emergence of canine distemper in Bavarian wildlife associated with a specific amino acid exchange in the haemagglutinin protein
Vet J. 2010 Jan 19. [Epub ahead of print]
K Sekulin et al.

Evaluation of Selective Culling of Infected Individuals to Control Tasmanian Devil Facial Tumor Disease
Conserv Biol. 2010 Jan 19. [Epub ahead of print]
S Lachish et al.

Scientific and Technical Review - 2009
Veterinary education for global animal and public health
Volume 28, Issue 2
Sample of articles

• One World – One Medicine – One Health: emerging veterinary challenges and opportunities
• Essential veterinary education in fish health and disease: a global perspective
• Essential veterinary education in the virology of domestic animals, wild animals and birds: diagnosis and pathogenesis of viral infections