|
* * * * * * * * * *
1. More deer escape from farm where CWD found [WI]
By Keith Edwards
WQOW.com
September 18, 2015
Eau Claire County (WQOW) - A concern about chronic wasting disease in Eau Claire County is growing, after more deer escaped from a deer farm near Fairchild where CWD was found.
Officials confirmed on Friday [9/18] that 12 deer escaped early last week from the farm. The DNR said they reportedly got out through the open gate. Most were captured, but three remain missing in addition to the two deer that escaped in May.
The DNR said the public and media were not immediately notified of the most recent escape because they give the owner a reasonable amount of time to try to find them on his own. The DNR is now asking residents around Fairchild and Augusta to report any sightings of the deer, which all have ear tags.
After the first escape, the DNR planned to kill all of the deer at the farm to prevent any possible spread of CWD, which hasn't happened yet due to a shortage of funding. More federal money is expected to be available Oct. 1.
Source:
********
|
|
2. Senate Ag leaders ask USDA for bird flu readiness details
By Daniel Enoch
AgriPulse.com
September 18, 2015
WASHINGTON, Sept. 18 - Senate Agriculture Committee leaders are asking USDA for more information regarding the department's efforts to prepare for a possible return this fall of the bird flu outbreak that decimated Midwest chicken and turkey farms earlier this year.
"Turkey and egg producers across the Midwest continue to struggle with highly pathogenic avian influenza (HPAI), which has been labeled the worst avian health crisis in American history," the panel's chairman, Pat Roberts, R-Kan., and its ranking member, Debbie Stabenow, D-Mich., wrote in a letter to Agriculture Secretary Tom Vilsack.
The lawmakers pointed out that the committee held a hearing in July on the impact of the outbreak, which resulted in the deaths of nearly 50 million birds, "significant U.S. taxpayer expense for indemnity and cleanup procedures" and "economic devastation on farms and in rural communities in more than a dozen states." But they said questions remain regarding the potential threat of a recurrence of HPAI this fall and preparedness efforts under way, at both the state and federal level and on farms.
The questions involved four main areas: disposal of dead birds, biosecurity efforts, indemnities and vaccinations.
Full text:
********
|
|
3. No new bird flu cases found in MN
By Eliana Schreiber
Minnesota Daily
September 21, 2015
Researchers and farmers are monitoring specific regions statewide after a contagious strain of bird flu broke out earlier this year.
University of Minnesota and state researchers expect a comeback in the disease - which hasn't been detected in the state since early June - but are unsure where and when it will return.
The disease, called Highly Pathogenic Avian Influenza, resulted in the death of nearly 9 million poultry birds in Minnesota and affected 22 counties.
To protect birds and prevent the disease from spreading, the Minnesota Board of Animal Health, University researchers and the U.S. Department of Agriculture have monitored farms in Minnesota.
While HPAI hasn't been reported in Minnesota since June, Carol Cardona, an avian health professor in the College of Veterinary Sciences, said this time of year is when scientists typically expect to see influenza.
But scientists have yet to see the disease return.
She said poultry farmers have had to watch over their birds more carefully since the outbreak this spring.
Producers became more aware of the disease after the outbreak and are taking precautionary measures to ensure it will not resurface, Cardona said.
Full text:
********
|
|
4. Bighorn elk hunters asked to assist with brucellosis surveillance [WY]
Billings Gazette
September 18, 2015
In cooperation with the Wyoming State Veterinarian's office, the Wyoming Game and Fish Department will conduct brucellosis surveillance in the Bighorn Mountains for a third year by collecting blood samples from hunter harvested elk.
Game and Fish is asking successful elk hunters to assist by collecting blood samples from elk immediately after harvest.
"In 2012, two seropositive elk were discovered in hunt area 40 in the Bighorn Mountains and two additional seropositives were found in the same hunt area in 2013," said Tim Woolley, wildlife management coordinator with the Game and Fish in Cody, Wyo. "In 2014 two seropositive bull elk were identified in hunt 39 and hunt area 41, and an additional seropositive cow elk was identified in hunt area 40. Animals that test seropostive to brucellosis do not necessarily carry the disease; they could have just been exposed to the bacteria at some time in their life."
Brucellosis surveillance efforts across the state rely on hunters voluntarily collecting blood samples from harvested elk.
********
|
|
5. APHIS Administrator Shares Information on Recent Audit of Wildlife Services Program
USDA Animal and Plant Health Inspection Service Bulletin
September 21, 2015
Dear Stakeholders:
Late last week, USDA's Office of Inspector General (OIG) released the results of an in-depth audit of our Wildlife Services (WS) Predator Damage Management Program. OIG initiated the audit in 2014 in response to requests from the public, animal rights groups and several members of Congress.
We welcomed the audit as a thorough and objective review of the vital service and support that WS provides to our Nation's farmers and ranchers. WS opened its doors, its records, and its administrative systems to OIG, giving auditors complete access to its program. During the review, OIG accompanied 40 WS specialists in the field and visited five states and 12 district sites. They witnessed aerial operations and field work, and spoke with more than 100 program leaders and researchers, State fish and wildlife officials, and property owners.
I want to draw your attention to a few of the audit's important findings.
OIG found WS to be in compliance with all applicable Federal and State laws, and did not identify any problems with our wildlife damage management activities. As the producers who depend on us already know, WS provides vital assistance-both non-lethal and lethal-to protect livestock and natural resources from predation by coyotes, wolves, birds and other predators. This assistance is especially critical during lambing and calving season when losses can be extreme without WS' support. Annually, predators account for the loss of more than 500,000 head of livestock valued at $138 million. Most often those needing help are small producers who are least able to absorb the losses.
Full text:
********
|
|
6. New Antiparasitic Drugs Needed for Small Ruminants
FDA Ctr. for Veterinary Medicine News Release
September 18, 2015
Worldwide, nematode (roundworm) parasites in small ruminants are increasingly becoming resistant to antiparasitic drugs. The U.S. is no exception. With the approval of ivermectin in 1984 and other macrocyclic lactones in the following years, U.S. veterinarians and small ruminant producers were able to easily, cheaply, and safely treat entire groups of sheep and goats for parasites with high initial effectiveness. Combining highly effective antiparasitic drugs with the practice of simultaneously treating all animals in a flock or herd-a practice still common today-can result, at first, in an almost 100 percent parasite kill rate. But recent scientific evidence shows that eliminating all parasites from a flock or herd is not sustainable due to the inevitable development of antiparasitic resistance.
Antiparasitic resistance is the genetic ability of parasites to survive treatment with an antiparasitic drug that was generally effective against those parasites in the past. After an animal is treated with an antiparasitic drug, the susceptible parasites die and the resistant parasites survive to pass on resistance genes to their offspring. Antiparasitic resistance threatens the health of small ruminants and can result in production losses for producers.
Small Market but Great Need
The limited number of FDA-approved antiparasitic drugs for small ruminants may be due to the high cost of drug development and approval, estimated to be as much as $100 million, combined with the relatively small U.S. market share of small ruminants compared to that of cattle and horses. According to the 2012 Census of Agriculture (the most recent census), the combined U.S. sales of sheep, goats, and their products (milk, wool, and mohair) made up only 0.2 percent of all U.S. agriculture sales.
Sheep numbers in the U.S. peaked in 1884 at 51 million head. Today, the numbers are only around 6 million head. Since the 1990s, the numbers of sheep producers have dropped from more than 105,000 to over 80,000, mainly due to negative economic factors.
********
|
|
7. Deadly Heartland Virus Is Much More Common Than Scientists Thought
By Michaeleen Doucleff
WVASfm.org
September 17, 2015
It's called the Heartland virus disease. Since it was first detected in 2009, there have been only nine reported cases in the Midwest, including two deaths.
So scientists thought the Heartland virus was limited to a small region.
That assumption was wrong.
A team at the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention has now found signs that Heartland virus is circulating in deer, raccoons, coyotes and moose in 13 states - from Texas to North Carolina and Florida to Maine.
"It was not only in these states, but it was fairly common," says biologist Nick Komar, who led the study. "It's very possible there have been many other cases that have been overlooked."
The Heartland virus causes symptoms similar to other diseases, including high fever, nausea, joint pain and severe bruising.
"Unless doctors are doing laboratory tests specifically for this infection, they'll miss it," Komar says. "This study is a way to get the word out, so the medical establishment knows there may be more infections out there. And people should be watching for it."
Full text:
********
|
|
