Bear Hunts

Posted on February 22, 2012 by MadelineBodin

Last week the Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission announced that it would go ahead with its black bear management plan, as well as with the plan to remove the animal from the state’s threatened species list. (Read the press release here. For the management plan itself, go here.) Florida has seen an increase in black bears, which has fueled speculation that the Commission might allow bear hunting in the future, a point mentioned in this article in the Tampa Bay Newspapers.

As black bear populations grow in the East, discussion of hunting as a management tool is prevalent. This NPR story on bear population increases in the Appalachians addresses the issue. Earlier this winter the desire to have fewer bears in suburban areas in New Jersey was contrasted with the desire of some not to kill any bears. Read one of the many stories covering the controversy at NJ.com.

Photo of Florida black bear cub courtesy of the Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission.

Mystery of the “Cactus Bucks”

Posted on February 21, 2012 by MadelineBodin

For ten years hunters and residents of western Colorado, near the north fork of the Gunnison River have been reporting mule deer with strange antlers to the Colorado Division of Wildlife. A Colorado Division of Wildlife press release says: “In these male animals the antlers grow in odd shapes, never develop fully and do not lose their velvet.”

These mule deer with the fuzzy, misshapen antlers have been called “cactus bucks.”

The cause of the deformity is a mystery, although division biologists believe that hemorrhagic disease is to blame.

Colorado Parks and Wildlife biologists recently collared eight infected animals and will follow them to see whether they shed their “cactus” antlers or grow new, normally developed ones in the future.

Read the Colorado Parks and Wildlife press release here. (So far news outlets have just reprinted the press release.)

In other cervid disease news: Three wild deer have tested positive for bovine tuberculosis in Michigan (at the top of the mitten’s index finger), according to an article in USA Today. Humans are not at risk, according to the State of Michigan’s emerging disease information. However, wild deer populations are at risk, as is the status of the region’s livestock, which may face greater regulations.

Read the story in USA Today, here.
The Michigan emerging disease info on bovine TB is here.

Photo: Kyle Banks, district wildlife manager for Colorado Parks and Wildlife in the Hotchkiss area, holds one of the “cactus bucks” collared in January 2012 as part of a five-year study. Courtesy of Colorado Parks and Wildlife.

WNS Surveillance Concept

Posted on February 20, 2012 by MadelineBodin

If your state has not yet been struck by white nose syndrome (WNS), or if you are in an area of your state not yet struck by WNS, you’ve probably needed to develop a system of surveillance that isn’t intrusive on hibernating bats and doesn’t take up a ton of staff time.

The favored method of WNS surveillance — sending staffers to known bat hibernation sites to observe and survey bats — is both intrusive and time consuming.

Scientists from the National Parks Service and the Southeastern Cooperative Wildlife Disease Study describe a new surveillance concept in a letter to the journal Emerging Infectious Diseases.

To survey the region around Mammoth Cave National Park, the national park service used bats that had previously been collected for rabies testing and had been proven not to have rabies.They narrowed their search by testing only bat species known to be susceptible to WNS and only those collected from November to April, when WNS is more likely to be detectable.

In a pilot test, the technique did detect one WNS-positive bat.

Read the letter to Emerging Infectious Diseases, here.

It’s important to keep in mind that the external parts of the WNS fungus can be brushed off at any contact, so that the tell-tale fuzzy white fungus may not be visible on bats that have been previously handled.

This Journal of Veterinary Diagnostic Investigation paper tells you what the lab should be looking for under the microscope. There is also a PCR test for the fungus.

Photo: Bat with white nose syndrome in a mine in Vermont. Courtesy US Fish and Wildlife Service

Public Continues to Misunderstand Sudden Bird Deaths

Posted on February 16, 2012 by MadelineBodin

Hundreds of starlings fell to the asphalt yesterday afternoon during rush hour on Interstate 95 near Laurel, Maryland, in the Washington, DC area. Traffic backed up as motorists tried to avoid running over the birds.

The Washington Post and ABC7 quote Maryland Department of Natural Resources biologist Peter Bedel as saying the birds likely just flew into a truck.

Lots of pics and videos of dead birds; lots of conjecture about the Aflockolypse of New Year’s Eve 2011.

Read the Washington Post story.
See the ABC7 story.
Here’s a brief in the Baltimore Sun.

Photo: A starling (not dead) by Dr. Thomas G. Barnes, courtesy of US Fish and Wildlife Service.

Ranavirus Hits Maryland

Posted on February 15, 2012 by MadelineBodin

An “alarming number” of tiny box turtles have been found dead in Maryland during a highway-construction relocation study, The Washington Post reports. The cause of death for 26 of the 31 turtles found dead is ranavirus, which shows measles- or herpes-like symptoms in reptiles and amphibians, the article reports.

The virus has also effected local frogs and salamanders, but turtles are the big concern because they breed much more slowly, the article says.

Scott Smith, a wildlife ecologist for Maryland’s Department of Natural Resources, is quoted in the article twice, including:

Smith of the Natural Resources Department said state wildlife officials are so concerned that they have applied for research funding from the Association of Reptile and Amphibian Veterinarians. State budgets are too strapped to fund the necessary research, he said.

Read the entire Washington Post article, here. It includes a link to a video of a gasping box turtle. Seriously.

This Extinction Countdown blog post from Scientific American from 2010, points to these journal articles on ranavirus:
2010 – Animal Conservation
Archives of Virology
Journal of Wildlife Diseases

Photo: Box turtle by Laura Perlick, courtesy of US Fish and Wildlife Service

Glutton for Punishment? Federal Budget

Posted on February 14, 2012 by MadelineBodin

A US Fish and Wildlife press release says that President Barack Obama’s Fiscal Year 2013 discretionary budget request includes increases for endangered species, the National Wildlife Refuge system, and the cooperative landscape conservation and adaptive science program.

It proposes decreases for national fish hatcheries, the Fisheries Aquatic Habitat and Species Conservation program, and the Coastal Impact Assistance program.

Read the US Fish and Wildlife Service press release, here.

But don’t get too attached to this budget. Red state legislators hate endangered species, everybody loves fish hatcheries, and most of our nation’s population lives near a coast.

Kit Fox Disease and Solar Power

Posted on February 13, 2012 by MadelineBodin

Collared desert kit fox, courtesy California Department of Fish and Game

When we covered the canine distemper outbreak in desert kit foxes in California a few weeks ago (read the story here), we didn’t mention the solar project that is being built nearby because it didn’t seem relevant.

But other people think that solar project is relevant. Chris Clarke, a Palm Springs-based environmental journalist got the ball rolling with a commentary on Southern California Community Television wondering if the distemper could have been spread by the coyote urine used to haze the kit foxes away from the construction zone.

Read his KCET commentary here.

Merritt Clifton, editor of Animal People, sent an email to ProMED saying that the coyote urine probably wouldn’t have worked anyway, since foxes and coyotes cross paths so often.

But if the solar project had any influence on the distemper outbreak, it was probably stress, said Deana Clifford, state wildlife veterinarian for the California Department of Fish and Game in an article on the solar project in the Los Angeles Times.

The LA Times article has five paragraphs on the desert kit fox situation at the solar site on the first on-line page of the article. Read it here.

Oh, Deer. Disease

Posted on February 10, 2012 by MadelineBodin

There’s been no shortage of deer disease news recently.

In Kansas, three white-tailed bucks taken during the hunting season have tested positive for chronic wasting disease (CWD), the Kansas Department of Wildlife, Parks and Tourism announced in a press release yesterday. Kansas has had 43 confirmed cases of CWD since 2005.

Read the Kansas Dept. of Wildlife, Parks and Tourism press release, here.
Read the Wichita Eagle outdoor writer’s blog, here.

In Missouri, the CWD news came at the end of January. Two adult bucks shot in Macon County were found to have CWD. They first free ranging deer in the state to be found with the disease, according to the Missouri Department of Conservation. Missouri saw its first CWD case, in captive deer, in 2010, according to the Chronic Wasting Disease Alliance website.

Read the Missouri Department of Conservation press release, here.

In Michigan, the problem is epizootic hemorrhagic disease. Michigan Department of Natural Resources officials say it may take five years for the deer herd to recover from this summer’s bout of the disease, according to an article in the Lenawee Daily Telegram. If the disease strikes again this summer, they hope to hear about it sooner.

Read the article in the Daily Telegram, here.

In Pennsylvania, a game farm elk that wandered into neighboring West Virginia won’t be allowed back in the state in an effort to protect Pennsylvania wildlife from CWD. (CWD has been found in West Virginia, but not Pennsylvania.) Read the story in the magazine OutdoorLife, here.

Photo of white-tailed buck by John Stehn, courtesy of the US Fish and Wildlife Service

Winter Research Roundup

Posted on February 9, 2012 by MadelineBodin

In New York State, a recent survey of the spruce grouse population revealed that there are not many of the birds left in that state. A revised management plan seeks to restore the population.
An Albany Times-Union article about the survey and results
A link to download the spruce grouse management plan.

New York State has also released a management plan for bobcats. The plan includes a survey of the state’s current bobcat population. Comments on the plan are being accepted until February 16.
Read an article about the plan in North Country News, here.
Here’s the state’s bobcat page, with a link to the management plan.

In California, the Department of Fish and Game is looking for volunteers over 16 years old and in good health to help count bighorn sheep in the San Gabriel Mountains on March 4. There is an orientation on March 3.
Read an article from KPPC, southern California public radio, here.
Go to a website dedicated to the count, here.

Also in California, the US Fish and Wildlife Service will review the status of the San Bernardino flying squirrel. It’s soliciting information about the flying squirrel and its habitat from state and federal natural resource agencies until April 2.
Read the article in the Riverside Press-Enterprise
The US Fish and Wildlife service press release is here.

Bobcat photo courtesy of the New York State Department of Environmental Conservation.

Deep Snow Means Moose Troubles in Alaska

Posted on February 8, 2012 by MadelineBodin

Alaska is on pace to have twice as many moose die from being struck by cars and trains than in a typical year, an article in the Anchorage Daily News says. Deeper-than-typical snow cover is luring the moose on to plowed roads and railroad tracks, where walking is easier, so they burn fewer calories.

Read the article from the Anchorage Daily News here.

Some 600 moose have been killed by cars and trains in just the south-central region of state this winter, says another Anchorage Daily News article. That article says that the Department of Fish and Game issued a permit to the Alaska Moose Federation to feed the moose hay, and to create trails between natural feeding areas in an attempt to keep the moose out of the roads and off the railroad tracks.

The issue is public safety, the article says. Alaska has plenty of moose, but the danger to human life and property from moose collisions is severe.

Read the other article from the Anchorage Daily News, here.

With the balmy winter weather in the lower 48 this year, Alaska’s moose problem may seem exotic, but you never know where and when the snow might fall or what cervid might take to the roads in response.

** More on Moose **

Read much more about the Alaska moose-in-roads issue in the outdoors column of the Alaska Dispatch. This lengthy article is filled with details about the moose feeding action, including Norway’s very different take on the problem, and offers links to articles in the Los Angeles Times and Charleston Gazette that had a “save the moose” angle.

Photo: This moose was photographed in the parking lot of the US Fish and Wildlife Service’s Anchorage office in 2006. Photo by Ronald Laubenstein, courtesy of the USFWS

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