MidnightWatcher – Prophecy in Motion

WSOCTV – “CALDWELL COUNTY, N.C. — A disease is killing deer by the hundreds in the North Carolina foothills.

Most of the people Eyewitness News talked with reported seeing the deer carcasses near creeks in northern Caldwell County. Wildlife biologists said that’s because the deer look for a cool place after their temperature spikes while fighting off the virus.

State wildlife biologist Danny Ray has fielded calls on dying deer much of the last two months. The virus killing the animals is called hemorrhagic disease.

‘They act sick; they stumble around; they hold their head low,’ Ray said.

Experts said the virus is in various parts of North Carolina, but the hardest-hit is an area of northern Caldwell County.

Homeowner Don Edwards said he found a dead deer in his pond.

‘Everybody has a story that they’ve seen one,’ Edwards said. ‘The big fields across the street — there’s one a week.’…

But it is something few people in the area will forget.

‘I’ve never experienced deer smelling like these have,’ Haley said. ‘They are decaying from the inside out.’

Wildlife biologists fear the number of cases in Caldwell County may actually be much higher than 500. Those are just the reported cases — the number of deaths could be in the thousands.” Read more.

Flashback: Wyoming: Massive Black Hills Deer Die-Off Could Be Worst In Decades – “Wildlife officials knew some deer would die in the Black Hills this fall. No one expected what could be the worst die-off in decades… ‘Our deer numbers are down right now anyway, and this sure isn’t helping anything,’ said Joe Sandrini, a Wyoming Game and Fish Department biologist based in Newcastle.” Read more.

Flashback: Illinois: Virus Previously Unknown To Area Kills Hundreds Of Deer Around Chicago – “Hundreds of deer in the Chicago area have been killed by a virus previously unknown in the area. The Daily Herald reports that roughly 200 deer in Cook County have died. Six suspected cases have been reported in Kane County.” Read more.

Flashback: Virus Killing Hundreds Of Deer In Michigan, Oklahoma, Kansas, Indiana, Iowa, Arkansas … – “Hundreds of deer in eight Michigan counties have died from a viral disease that is on the rise nationwide because of hot, dry weather, state officials said Thursday… ‘We are seeing a large die-off of deer in local areas. To date we have over 900 reports of dead deer across all (eight) counties…’” Read more.

By CHRISTINE PETERSON, Casper Star-Tribune – “CASPER, Wyo. — Wildlife officials knew some deer would die in the Black Hills this fall. No one expected what could be the worst die-off in decades.

Called epizootic hemorrhagic disease, or EHD, the disease typically strikes fawns and bucks and is worse during droughts. Biologists first found the disease in the Black Hills in the 1950s.

‘Our deer numbers are down right now anyway, and this sure isn’t helping anything,’ said Joe Sandrini, a Wyoming Game and Fish Department biologist based in Newcastle.

The disease is spread by a type of biting gnat. White-tailed deer are most often affected. It’s worse during dry years because deer congregate in larger groups near diminishing water sources. A hard frost will kill the gnats, but when temperatures don’t drop low enough, the gnats — and the disease — persist, Sandrini said.

It cannot be spread to humans or most other wildlife and is not a threat to humans, Sandrini said.

Dying deer may be lethargic, appear to be drooling and congregate near water. If a deer succumbs to the disease, it typically dies within three days of infection, Sandrini said.

Biologists won’t know the extent of the die-off until mid-October after they begin calculating the herd estimates. It seems to be worse in the northern part of the Black Hills, Sandrini said.

Sundance Game Warden Chris Teter started fielding calls from concerned residents around the first of September and has since received dozens reporting dead or dying deer.

‘I’ve not had this many calls ever before, even during an outbreak,’ said Teter, who has been the game warden for 22 years.” Read more.

Flashback: Illinois: Virus Previously Unknown To Area Kills Hundreds Of Deer Around Chicago – “Hundreds of deer in the Chicago area have been killed by a virus previously unknown in the area. The Daily Herald reports that roughly 200 deer in Cook County have died. Six suspected cases have been reported in Kane County. The disease is known as EHD, or epizootic hemorrhagic disease. It’s a virus that kills deer in about a week and is spread among them by bites from flies known as midges.” Read more.

Flashback: Virus Killing Hundreds Of Deer In Michigan, Oklahoma, Kansas, Indiana, Iowa, Arkansas … – “Hundreds of deer in eight Michigan counties have died from a viral disease that is on the rise nationwide because of hot, dry weather, state officials said Thursday… ‘We are seeing a large die-off of deer in local areas. To date we have over 900 reports of dead deer across all (eight) counties,’ stated Tom Cooley, DNR wildlife biologist and pathologist.” Read more.

By Lauren Edmundson – “At least 2000 birds have died from an outbreak of avian botulism in Portland, Oregon. This outbreak could reduce the area’s migratory bird population significantly. Officials are currently working to contain the outbreak.

Avian botulism is caused by the bacterium Clostridium botulinum, which is found in the soil and activated by warm temperatures. Experts believe that the warm weather combined with decomposing plant materials have led to elevated bacteria levels in the area.

Birds can be infected with avian botulism through consuming the bacteria directly or by consuming other invertebrates that are infected with the bacteria. In this outbreak, maggots have been feeding on dead birds, and other birds become infected by eating these maggots.

For this reason, experts are focusing on clean up of sick and dead birds as the primary means of prevention. Dan Moeller, Metro’s Natural Areas Land Manager, explained to Portland’s local news station, KGW, ‘If groups of scientists and workers aren’t out here collecting the dead materials then it can spread very quickly. And that’s what we’ve been doing ever since we found it was occurring, was to get out here as quickly as possible.'” Read more.

By MARK PRIGG – “The infection is as grim as it sounds: ‘Zombie bees’ have a parasite that causes them to fly at night and lurch around erratically until they die.

And experts say the condition has crept into Washington state.

‘I joke with my kids that the zombie apocalypse is starting at my house,’ said Mark Hohn, a novice beekeeper who spotted the infected insects at his suburban Seattle home.

Hohn returned from vacation a few weeks ago to find many of his bees either dead or flying in jerky patterns and then flopping on the floor.

He remembered hearing about zombie bees, so he collected several of the corpses and popped them into a plastic bag. About a week later, the Kent man had evidence his bees were infected: the pupae of parasitic flies.

‘Curiosity got the better of me,’ Hohn said.

The zombie bees were the first to be confirmed in Washington state, The Seattle Times reported.

San Francisco State University biologist John Hafernik first discovered zombie bees in California in 2008.

Hafernik now uses a website to recruit citizen scientists like Hohn to track the infection across the country.

Observers also have found zombie bees in Oregon and South Dakota.

The infection is another threat to bees that are needed to pollinate crops.

Hives have been failing in recent years due to a mysterious ailment called colony collapse disorder, in which all the adult honey bees in a colony suddenly die.” Read more.

Flashback: Honeybee Populations — Responsible for 90% of All Commercial Pollination — Continue to Disappear, Will Impact Humans – “Best known for prompting shrieks and swatting of air, bees rarely receive proper recognition for their contributions to humankind. But now that they are disappearing by the thousands, it will be up to humans to ensure their survival. Over the past five years, about 30 percent of the yearly captive honeybee population has died every winter, according to CNN, and about 10 percent of bees simply vanish… Though some crops such as wheat are pollinated by the wind, honeybees are responsible for the 90 percent of all commercial pollination, according to an article in Applied Microbiology and Biotechnology.” Read more.

CBS4 – “Dead crows are littering some Denver neighborhoods. Homeowners first thought someone poisoned the birds, but the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention confirms that’s not the case.

The area affected is Crestmoor Park located around 6th and Monaco in southeast Denver. CBS4′s Suzanne McCarroll first reported on the story a week and a half ago, and the birds continue to turn up dead.

It’s a neighborhood with birds, bunnies and squirrels. Unfortunately it is also an area with crow carcasses littering the lawns and streets.

‘I have found at least two dead crows in my backyard and the reason it’s disturbing is I have small children,’ a Crestmoor Park resident said.

Right next door there was a dead crow Monday morning, and yet another on Tuesday morning.

‘This is a crow that just passed away overnight,’ resident Julie Mackay-Percy said. ‘He’s one of the sick ones I’ve seen the last couple of days, and they keep going until they can’t.’

Mackay-Percy now refers to herself as the crow lady. When McCarroll first interviewed her she said about 36 crows died along her street this summer. In the last week alone nine more have died and neighbors say many more are sick.

‘They get slower and slower … you can tell it’s a struggle for them to move, it’s a struggle for them to fly,’ Mackay-Percy said.

Representatives for the CDC have made frequent trips to the neighborhood to test the birds. What continues to turn up is West Nile virus.” Read more.

By Tony Moore – “Scientists are investigating whether a virus is the cause of the deaths of thousands of catfish in the Brisbane River.

A major clean-up is happening in Lowood today, west of Ipswich, with Somerset Regional Council staff helping scientists and rangers clean the Brisbane River of thousands of decaying catfish.

Crews began removing dead fish at Twin Bridges, Wivenhoe Pocket and intend to work their way towards Lowood.

Somerset mayor Graeme Lehmann said the dead catfish were still being been found in a stretch of the Brisbane River between Lowood State High School and the Lowood Water Treatment Plant, run by Queensland Urban Utilities.

He said scientists had told him this morning they believed “something natural, perhaps a virus” had triggered the fish kill.

Now the Department of Environment and Heritage Protection is checking to see if there have been previous fish kills in the area.

brisbanetimes.com.au understands dead fish were first located last Tuesday, but the issue was only brought to the the council’s attention this week.

A spokeswoman for Seqwater, which monitors water quality, said they had not been notified of any unusual discharges from the water treatment at Lowood to the Brisbane River.

“Seqwater has no knowledge of any issue at Lowood Water Treatment Plant and is co-operating with the state government in any investigations into the fish kill,” she said last night.” Read more.

The Frontier Post- “KARACHI: Interior Sindh has hit by another mysterious disease among the birds and animals when the hundreds of sheep fallen sick after struck by unknown disease. Umerkot District remains the target of mysterious diseases in livestock following death of dozens of dozens of wild peacocks in Thar Desert about a couple of weeks back.

According to Livestock Department, veterinary experts dispatched to the affected area visited local villages and undertook tests of sick cattle.

Experts fear that the disease could spread to other areas if it was not timely contained.

Earlier, dozens of wild peacocks died suddenly in Thar, prompting experts to fear an outbreak of the highly contagious Newcastle disease.

Officials confirmed the deaths of at least 60 peacocks while locals claimed this figure has reached to over 100.

The wildlife ministry said tests were being done to diagnose the cause of death, but said the wild peacocks had been weakened by starvation, deforestation and a lack of safe drinking water blamed on delays to the annual monsoon rains.

Experts are alarmed by the number of deaths, suspecting they may have been afflicted with Newcastle disease, known locally as ‘Ranikhet’.

Newcastle disease is a worldwide problem among birds and sporadic outbreaks can occur frequently. Affected birds suffer from loss of appetite, coughing, sneezing, diarrhoea, and in severe outbreaks a high proportion die.

The wildlife department said it was supplying fresh water to peacocks in affected areas.” Source – The Frontier Post.