Animals
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Question

Bird deaths hit Newcastle centre in new year - yet again, Australia

Matthew Kelly
Newcastle Herald
Fri, 10 Jan 2014 11:36 UTC
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GP Training education support assistant Emily Exon with the dead birds she found in the centre’s gardens.
Authorities are scratching for answers following the bizarre deaths of dozens of birds in a Mayfield West garden in the first week of January for the second year running.

Staff at GP Training in Frith Street found 14 rainbow lorikeets, two myna birds and a magpie in the centre's gardens last week.

They were confronted with the sight of 27 birds when they returned from last year's New Year break.

None of the birds had obvious injuries.

''It was a horrible sight,'' education support assistant Emily Exon said.

''It's very sad that's it has happened again this year.''

The centre is located in a residential area, a short distance from OneSteel's Maud Street plant.

''It's a quiet area compared to central Mayfield and we see a lot of local flora and fauna,'' Ms Exon said.

Office of Environment and Heritage spokesman Lawrence Orel agreed the deaths were highly unusual.
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Alarm Clock

Gulf World treating some 50 endangered sea turtles stranded by cold weather in Florida


newsdaily.com
Fri, 10 Jan 2014 09:15 UTC
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© Heather Leiphart | The News HeraldA sea turtle comes up for a gulp of air while recovering with 61 others at Gulf World Marine Park on Thursday. “We were expecting 100 to 300 turtles and are preparing for more,” said Secret Holmes-Douglas, director of animal care. The turtles will be tagged and released into a warmer area of the gulf
Almost 50 endangered sea turtles have arrived at Gulf World Marine Institute in Panama City Beach.

Officials say the turtles were found stranded in shallow bay waters due to frigid temperatures over the past few days.

The News Herald of Panama City (http://bit.ly/1cU4ZVK ) reports the turtles went into a hypothermic state and became very weak because of the cold weather. Many now have developed a secondary illness.

Officials from Gulf World, the Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission, the Gulf Island National Seashore and University of Florida volunteers have found the turtles and brought them to the marine center for rehabilitation.

Gulf World officials say the turtles are in intensive care. Their body temperatures will be slowly warmed and they'll receive any necessary medicine.

Source: AP
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Question

23 Olive Ridleys turtles washed ashore in two days, Napier Bridge, India

Karthikeyan Hemalatha
Times of India
Wed, 08 Jan 2014 08:56 UTC
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© Bernard Gagnon, Wikimedia Commons. Olive Ridley turtle, near Mahabalipuram, Tamil Nadu, India
For turtle enthusiasts, 2014 began on a tragic note with 23 dead Olive Ridleys being washed ashore between Napier Bridge and Neelankarai in the last two days.
In the last week, 35 dead turtles were found on the same stretch and this is just the tip of the iceberg. "Studies show that only 5% to 7% of the carcasses wash ashore," said Akila Balu, convener of Students' Sea Turtle Conservation Network (SSTCN).

Olive Ridleys are protected under Schedule 1 of the Wildlife Protection Act and are considered keystone species, which means they play a critical role in the health of their environment. They keep the population of jelly fish in check and by feeding on sponges, they let coral reefs flourish. "It was very depressing to see so many turtles bloated and bleeding on the beach," said R Nishant, a volunteer from SSTCN who scouted the beach on Monday night between Srinivasapuram and Napier Bridge. The female turtles come ashore to lay their eggs on the beach.

The biggest threat to turtles is the uncontrolled number of fishing trawlers. Olive Ridleys get caught in their nets and fishermen cut off the turtles' flippers and throw them back into the sea. Since they have to swim to the surface to breathe, without flippers they drown. "The local artisan fishermen treat them as god and do not harm turtles. They have been helpful in conservation activities over the last 25 years," said Balu. So many carcasses washing ashore also indicate that the nesting turtles are near the coast.
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Cloud Precipitation

Cold, wet weather may help spread deadly pig virus: USDA

Meredith Davis
yahoo.com
Thu, 09 Jan 2014 04:30 UTC
Frigid temperatures across a large swath of the United States this week followed by warmer conditions could aid the spread of a fatal pig disease now in 22 states, affecting hundreds of thousands of pigs, a swine veterinarian said on Thursday.

"The virus likes cold, wet and cloudy days," said Rodney Baker, a swine veterinarian at Iowa State University at Ames, Iowa, the top pork producing state in the United States.

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At this time of year the virus gets frozen on clothes and shoes, making it easy to track around and spread, Baker added.

Porcine Epidemic Diarrhea virus (PEDv), which causes diarrhea, vomiting and severe dehydration in hogs, has spread quickly across the U.S. hog belt since its discovery in the United States in April 2013.

California and Wyoming are the latest states to report confirmed cases of the deadly pig virus, bringing the number of states affected to 22, the U.S. Department of Agriculture said on Thursday.

The number of new cases increased by 134 for the week of December 29, bringing total reported cases to 2,084, according to the USDA's National Animal Health Laboratory Network (NAHLN)
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Wolf

Environment Wildlife 'Carnivore cleansing' is damaging ecosystems, scientists warn


The Guardian
Thu, 09 Jan 2014 04:20 UTC
Extermination of large predators such as wolves and bears has a cascading effect on delicate ecological balance

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© Vasily Fedosenko/ReutersHunters skin a wolf killed in a forest in the Ukraine. Humans have waged a long-standing war with large carnivores that kill livestock and threaten rural communities.
A plea to restore populations of some of the world's most dangerous animals has been made by scientists who claim the loss of large carnivores is damaging ecosystems.

More than three-quarters of the 31 species of large land predators, such as lions and wolves, are in decline, according to a new study. Of these, 17 species are now restricted to less than half the territory they once occupied.

Large carnivores have already been exterminated in many developed regions, including western Europe and eastern United States - and the same pattern of "carnivore cleansing" is being repeated throughout the world, said scientists.

Yet evidence suggests carnivores play a vital role in maintaining the delicate balance of ecosystems which cannot be replaced by humans hunting the animals they normally prey on.
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Arrow Down

Animal rights fliers shock Italian researchers

Marta Paterlini
Science Insider
Thu, 09 Jan 2014 15:15 UTC
Animal Rights Flier
© A Favore della Sperimentazione AnimaleTarget. A flier distributed in Milan showed Alberto Corsini's home address and phone number (blurred out in this picture).
The battle over animal experimentation in Italy took a nasty turn this week when anonymous activists posted fliers showing photos, home addresses, and telephone numbers of scientists involved in animal research at the University of Milan and labeled them as "murderers." The leaflets, which appeared in the night of 6 to 7 January, triggered widespread condemnation in academic and political circles.

The posters targeted physiologist Edgardo D'Angelo, parasitologist Claudio Genchi, pharmacologist Alberto Corsini, and Maura Francolini, a biologist. The texts say they are "guilty" of performing animal experiments; Corsini is said to "have tortured and killed animals for more than 30 years." His flier ends with his phone number and the suggestion to "call this executioner and tell him what you think of him."

Although the fliers didn't contain a specific call to violence, the implicit threat is unmistakable, Italian scientists say. Pro-Test Italia, an organization that seeks to defend and explain animal research, has likened the campaign to a witch hunt. "It's unacceptable that those who work for the good of science and public health are called murderers by someone who publicly incites violence against them," says Dario Padovan, a biologist and coordinator of Pro-Test Italia's scientific committee.
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Eagle

Number of dead Bald eagles in Utah now at 40


kutv.com
Thu, 09 Jan 2014 16:30 UTC
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Utah wildlife officials say the number of bald eagles that appear to have died from West Nile Virus has climbed to 40.

Leslie McFarlane, a wildlife disease coordinator with Utah Division of Wildlife Resources, reports say that besides the 40 dead birds, there are five others in rehabilitation centers.

McFarlane says the number of dead eagles should start to drop off as the spread of infection appears to have slowed.

Wildlife officials first started finding the birds on Dec. 1 with head tremors and signs of weakness and paralysis.

They were not sure what was killing the animals until last week, when they received test results.

They suspect the animals contracted West Nile by eating dead aquatic birds that were infected with the disease.

Source: AP
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Black Cat

Lions approach extinction in West Africa

Brian Clark Howard
National Geographic
Wed, 08 Jan 2014 13:47 UTC
New study paints dire picture and outlines conservation needs

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© Pete Oxford, Nature Picture Library/CorbisLions in South and East Africa, like this male cat in Botswana, are better known than their cousins in West Africa, which tend to be smaller and are now highly endangered.
Lions may soon disappear entirely from West Africa unless conservation efforts improve, a new study predicts.

The study, published January 8 in the peer-reviewed scientific journal PLOS ONE, presents "sobering results" of a survey that took six years and covered 11 countries.

Lions once ranged from Senegal to Nigeria, a distance of more than 1,500 miles. The new survey found an estimated total of only 250 adult lions occupying less than one percent of that historic range. The lions form four isolated populations: one in Senegal; two in Nigeria; and a fourth on the borders of Benin, Niger, and Burkina Faso. Only that last population has more than 50 lions.
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Heart - Black

A record high of 39 Indian tigers fell prey to poachers in 2013

Rohit
indiasendangered.com
Mon, 23 Dec 2013 13:33 UTC
Even as the nation is busy conducting the third synchronised national tiger census across the country, the death toll due to poaching tells a grim tale, with this year's figures showing highest number of tigers killed in the last seven years.

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According to Wildlife Protection Society of India (WPSI), 39 tigers have fallen prey to poachers so far in 2013. The NGO, which works with government enforcement agencies throughout the country to fight poaching, states that this year's toll has surpassed last year's figure of 31, and also the previous high of 37 in 2006. However, the figure is strictly conservative as it does not take into account the confessions of poachers arrested by Maharashtra officials, which would take the toll to 51, crossing the highest ever recorded figure of 46 cases of poaching registered in 2005.

Additionally, WPSI also informs that the overall tiger deaths, including road accidents, natural deaths, electrocution, natural territorial conflicts besides poaching cases, is 76 so far in this year. However, the National Conservation Authority (NTCA), the apex tiger conservation authority in the country, puts the toll at a much lower figure of 64.
"Our data is based on field inputs and is correct," states Program Manager of WPSI, Tito Joseph.
Speaking about the discrepancy between the two figures, Inspector General with NTCA, H. S. Negi, said that the NTCA and WPSI data on tiger deaths generally do not differ. For example, both NTCA and WPSI had recorded 89 tiger deaths in 2012.

NTCA officials say that the difference in data could be due to the delay in communication of figures from states as they often learn about tiger deaths quite late. An example of this is the NTCA figures of five cases of confiscation of tiger parts in 2013. However, this figure skips the three poaching cases involving seizure of tiger parts that were registered in Maharashtra.
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Eye 2

Couple find snake in bathroom after it falls through the roof, Scotland

Clair Fullarton
Daily Record
Thu, 09 Jan 2014 10:29 UTC
Stuart Gillespie was investigating a strange noise coming from the vent when the baby reptile dropped through the roof onto the bathroom floor

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© Kilmarnock Standard The snake found in the bathroom
A New Farm Loch man had a frightening start to the new year when a snake fell through his bathroom vent.

Stuart Gillespie was investigating a strange noise coming from the vent when the baby reptile - named Lou by the SSPCA - dropped through, falling six feet onto the bathroom floor.

Stuart's partner Jan Bryan said: "I was at the front door saying bye to my daughter on January 2, when I heard Stuart shouting that there was a snake in the bathroom.

"I couldn't believe what I was hearing. Stuart was chalk white.

"I refused to go upstairs until it had been removed, but my daughter's partner managed to get a couple of pictures.

"It's not what we were expecting at new year, but it will be one we'll never forget."

The family, of Grant Place, were advised by the SSPCA to check with neighbours to see if anyone was missing a pet snake.
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