MidnightWatcher – Prophecy in Motion

By Z Ali and Sajid Bajeer, The Express Tribune – “MITHI / HYDERABAD: The Sindh Wildlife Department believes that the peacocks which died in Thar were suffering from ‘Ranikhet’ or Newcastle Disease, which is a fatal and contagious virus found among birds, including chicken. However, blood tests of sick and dead peacocks have yet to be conducted.

Although no exact figure for the dead peacocks is available, the residents of Mithi say that more than 50 have perished within a week across half a dozen villages. The ones which have died in the forest or were eaten by animals have not been included in this figure.

Over a week after the birds started appearing ill, chief conservator Saeed Akhtar Baloch visited those villages in Mithi which reported the highest incidence of deaths.

‘If we had treated the peacocks in time, many of them would not have died,’ he admitted. He has also suspended assistant conservator Lajpat Sharma and game officer Ashfaq Memon for showing negligence.

He added that a team of vets from the Poultry Development Department will come to Thar on July 23 with medicines so that the ailing birds can be cured.

Earlier, vets from the livestock and poultry departments said the peacocks had been suffering from an acute deficiency of vitamins and minerals.” Read more.

By Chelsey Davis, AZCentral – “An outbreak of golden algae killed thousands of fish this week in a 20-mile stretch of the Salt River, officials said.

The Arizona Game and Fish Department received reports from fishermen Tuesday of dead fish floating to shore. The reports ranged from east of Roosevelt Lake to Horseshoe Bend, said Jim Paxon, a spokesman for Game and Fish.

After taking water samples and testing the fish, investigators determined Friday that golden algae caused the die-off, Paxon said.

Authorities believe the drought, along with increased salinity in the water, led to the outbreak of golden algae, said Kirk Young, a Game and Fish fisheries biologist.

Officials are not sure what triggered the toxicity and salinity problem in the Salt River. Paxon said storms in the mountains could have washed ash and silt from the Wallow Fire into Black River to the White River, which turns into the Salt River.

Paxon said that the river is nearly 15 degrees cooler than Roosevelt Lake and that the algae problem subsides before entering the reservoir.

But in the Salt River, the amoebalike golden algae attacked the gills of fish and suffocated them, Paxon said.

Fish such as bluegill, buffalo, carp and catfish have been most affected in the river, Paxon said.” Read more.

CBC News – “Anthrax is believed to have killed 128 bison northwest of Fort Providence, N.W.T.

The carcasses were found close to Mills Lake during a routine anthrax surveillance flight this week.

The Department of Environment and Natural Resources has issued an anthrax emergency response plan to deal with the potential outbreak.

‘A field test on a couple of carcasses did turn out positive,’ said Judy McLinton, the department’s spokeswoman. ‘Given the number of carcasses and the chance when they looked at them that it was probably or potentially anthrax, we activated our emergency response plan.’

On Thursday, the department sent samples from the dead animals to a Canadian Food Inspection Agency lab in Lethbridge, Alta. for testing, she said. They expect the results in a week’s time.

McLinton said the department will start disposing of the carcasses. Typically they burn carcasses that have died of anthrax but given the number, she said that could take up to six weeks.

‘They’ll treat the carcasses with formaldehyde, tarp them, because we want to keep the anthrax spores intact, and then we’ll burn as we move along.'” Read more.

“It’s another case of dead fish in Lake Wichita. Hundreds of thousands of dead fish were reported to Texas Parks and Wildlife officials Monday morning.

Fisheries Biologist Robert Mauk investigated the incident and took samples back to his lab. What he found was golden algae. The algae release a toxin into the water that make it difficult for the fish to breathe, eventually leading to suffocation.

Carp, catfish, crappie and other species are dead, some still struggling to survive. Mauk refers to this as a ‘major’ fish kill.

‘This is probably the 4th golden algae related fish kill at this lake,’ he said.

Mauk doesn’t expect a total fish kill. The cause of how the golden algae bloomed inside the lake is unknown. The area was hit hard by golden algae at the start of the year, now it’s happening again. Only this time it’s worse. To read our January report of golden algae at Lake Wichita click here.” Source – Newschallel6Now.com.

By Tom Palmer – “I received a report over the weekend about a fish kill on Lake Buffum near Fort Meade.

Instead of being the normal fish kill that involves a drop in oxygen levels caused by an algae die-off that leaves fish floating everywhere, this one affected only catfish, I was told.

I spoke with Eric Johnson, a fisheries biologist at FWC’s Lakeland office.

He confirmed the report. He said tissue samples have been sent to a state lab in St. Petersburg to get more accurate info, but tentatively it appears to be the result of bacteria or some other microorganism.

Johnson said this occurs occasionally and there’s really nothing that can be done about it but to let it pass. Fish populations eventually recover.

This has been going on for a few weeks, Johnson said.

I’m surprised no one had contacted us–they usually do–but public access to the lake has been limited for some time because of the drought has made the boat ramp unusable.” Source – Polk Outdoors.

Associated Press – “ROME — A U.N. agency has warned that a livestock epidemic in Congo that has killed more than 75,000 goats is the worst in a decade and is now threatening goats and sheep in neighboring countries.

The disease, called peste de petit ruminants, or PPR, is highly lethal, with an 86 percent mortality rate among goats. It is caused by a virus that is similar to measles in humans.

The U.N. Food and Agriculture Organization said 1 million goats and 600,000 sheep are at risk of contracting the disease. To protect them, farmers have been moving their herds away from infected villages, but that has only spread the epidemic to healthy flocks of animals.

FAO said it plans to vaccinate at least 500,000 animals and will try to limit the animals’ movements.” Source – The Washington Post.

RSOE EDIS – “Wetland biologists and others involved in managing lands with associated wetlands have been notified by the Department of Land and Natural Resources’ Division of Forestry and Wildlife (DOFAW) of a recent avian botulism outbreak affecting waterbirds on Maui. In just over a week, 67 birds have been found dead at Kanaha Pond Wildlife Sanctuary in Kahului including Hawaiian Stilt, Hawaiian Coot, and Hawaiian Ducks of adult and juvenile stages. The paralytic disease has killed adult birds on their nests, also causing the eggs to be lost. Because botulinum toxin can be produced in most wetlands, and transported to new wetlands by dead or dying waterfowl, landowners and managers, both public and private, are being asked to frequently survey their wetlands for sick and/or dead birds, remove any dead or dying birds from the wetland, and contact local DOFAW biologists for guidance. Earlier this year a botulism outbreak in Hanalei, Kauai resulted in over 300 sick and dead birds being collected by USFWS refuge staff. Additionally, numerous other botulism fatalities have also been reported at wetlands throughout the state. Botulism is a paralytic condition brought on by the consumption of a naturally occurring toxin produced by the bacterium Clostridium botulinum. It is an intoxication rather than an infectious disease. Botulism, type C is commonly found in Hawaiian soils and is NOT dangerous to humans.

Particular environmental conditions in wetlands will sometimes allow this bacterium to produce botulinum toxin; the toxin is then accumulated in aquatic invertebrates. It is consumption of these toxic invertebrates by waterfowl that leads to mortality.” Read more.

By Carter Haydu, Times-Herald – “Noticeable numbers of fish are dying off at Buffalo Pound Lake.

But while the cause of the die-off is yet to be determined, Canadian Co-operative Wildlife Health Centre (CCWHC) regional director Trent Bollinger told the Times-Herald humans and their pets should not be in danger due to the ongoing situation.

‘It’s not a threat to people,’ he said on Tuesday. ‘This is a fish issue.’

Most heavily impacted seems to be yellow perch, which Bollinger said are washing up along the shoreline of the local lake. This is the second year in a row the local lake has experienced a fish die-off event, and researchers are taking samples, testing, and trying to diagnose the cause.

‘It looks like there’s a couple of different things,’ Bollinger said, adding the likely culprit is a bacterial organism causing Columnaris Disease.

‘This is a bacterial disease that impacts a range of fish species.’

Sampled fish at the lake have lesions, and cultured samples suggest Columnaris is the likely cause of death.

For more on this story, read an upcoming edition of the Times-Herald.” Source – Times Herald.

“Following the mystery deaths of a large number of birds last winter, an equally curious affliction seems to be affecting galahs this year, with a number of mature birds suddenly unable to fly and falling about in what appears to be an unco-ordinated and drunken state.

The symptoms do not seem to match any of the usual listed galah sicknesses.

One of these birds was examined by a vet who could not find anything physically wrong, but suggested a couple of days of rest might do the trick.

A second bird that appeared to be in a similar state was also picked up and the pair were kept warm inside a box overnight and released into a large outdoor cage with feed and water available during the daytime.

After about a week the birds seem to have recovered enough to regain their flight skills although still appear somewhat wonky and not quite ready for release.

A number of dead birds were also seen around town, including in parks, about the same time, although grounded ones that aren’t picked up straight away can quickly fall victim to the cold and predators, including the unkind human kind.

Last year’s large number of galah deaths remained a mystery despite autopsies carried out by a vet and further testing at the Macarthur Institute in Sydney. These birds were found dead in spread wing positions under trees in parks, along the riverbank and in the grounds of the TAFE campus.” Source – Warren Advocate.