https://www.ksat.com/news/local/2021/06/25/zombie-deer-in-texas-wildlife-officials-issue-emergency-order-following-positive-tests-at-breeding-sites/?outputType=amp&utm_source=twitter&utm_medium=social&utm_campaign=snd&utm_content=ksat12&__twitter_impression=true

Health officials say there’s no evidence that suggests the disease is harmful to the public

AUSTIN – Are “zombie deer” real? The answer is yes, and they’ve been found in Texas.

Deer at six breeding sites in the state have recently tested positive for “zombie deer” disease, or Chronic Wasting Disease, prompting an emergency order from the Texas Parks and Wildlife Department.

Officials announced the order Tuesday and said they will secure the CWD-positive deer at the six facilities, enhance CWD testing at other breeding sites that have received deer from the positive sites, and they will not release any CWD-positive deer to help mitigate the spread.

“This is a terribly unfortunate development that we are committed to addressing as proactively, comprehensively, and expeditiously as possible,” said Carter Smith, TPWD executive director, in a release.

“Zombie deer” disease is described by wildlife officials as a “slow and progressive” fatal disease that can be found in deer, elk, moose and other cervids, or members of the deer family.https://943b64ebcfe64825b44ba2f12149ba3e.safeframe.googlesyndication.com/safeframe/1-0-38/html/container.html?n=0

Although the disease may not be detected for several years, TPWD officials said, as it progresses, animals will show changes in behavior and appearance.

These may include progressive weight loss, stumbling or tremors, excessive thirst, salivation or urination, loss of appetite, teeth grinding, abnormal head posture, and/or drooping ears. There are no treatments or vaccines available for the disease, according to the CDC.

Health officials say there’s no evidence to suggest that it can be passed to humans, but it could pose a risk to non-human primates that eat meat from CWD-positive animals or “come in contact with brain or body fluids from infected deer or elk.”

The disease was first discovered in Texas in 2012 in free-ranging mule deer in the area of Hueco Mountains, near the Texas-New Mexico border, according to wildlife officials.

• ROB CHANEY rchaney@missoulian.com
• Jun 25, 2021 Updated Jun 25, 2021
•  0

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• https://www.kpvi.com/news/national_news/court-rules-flathead-plan-fails-grizzly-trout-populations/article_2a5e39df-cd0c-55c1-8f71-e381eba89cfa.html?utm_medium=social&utm_source=facebook&utm_campaign=user-share&fbclid=IwAR0B0AVIqg8AO-nd981KFNwEz5sX-zwds9RH8ai2dTYqO5wTabGmLbcQYvA

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A lawsuit pitting habitat needs for grizzly bears and bull trout against road access for loggers and motorized tourists has resolved in favor of the animals in the Flathead National Forest.

However, U.S. District Judge Don Molloy ruled on Thursday that most of a new forest management plan governing the 2.4-million-acre national forest west and south of Glacier National Park may stand while the U.S. Forest Service and Fish and Wildlife Service fix some violations of the Endangered Species Act.

“It’s a pretty thorough and nuanced opinion,” said Lawson Fite, an American Forest Resource Council attorney representing the Montana Logging Association. “The judge said we can have a robust timber program on the Flathead that supports rural communities, keeps a healthy forest, and provides for grizzly bears continuing their impressive recovery. We’re gratified that grizzlies are recovering, and I think we should be celebrating that, rather than just keeping restrictions for their own sake.”https://f4d3d4a1462421edf6e8184efb847da3.safeframe.googlesyndication.com/safeframe/1-0-38/html/container.html

The challenge came from WildEarth Guardians, Swan View Coalition and several other environmental groups that accused the Flathead Forest of violating National Environmental Policy Act and Travel Management Rule provisions in drafting its new forest plan without adequate research or public review.

Molloy rejected those arguments, writing “this does not appear to be a case in which the agencies cut corners. Rather, with limited exception, the record reflects that federal defendants met their statutory obligations in planning for and implementing the revised plan.”

Instead, Molloy found the agencies failed to follow the Endangered Species Act by getting rid of previous policies that helped grizzlies and bull trout. He quoted the late Supreme Court Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg in noting that getting rid of those policies “is like throwing away your umbrella in a rainstorm because you are not getting wet.”

Earthjustice attorney Tim Preso, who represented the Swan View Coalition, said the ruling confirmed studies showing the federal agencies were not actually enforcing the policies, such as complete removal of unneeded roads in wildlife habitat.

“The government was changing the rules that led to progress on grizzly bear and bull trout conservation,” Preso said. “They have to go back and rethink that.”

The Flathead National Forest includes a large part of the Northern Continental Divide Ecosystem, which has the largest single population of grizzly bears in the Lower 48 states. An estimated 1,000 grizzlies live in the mountains of Glacier National Park, the Bob Marshall Wilderness Complex, Flathead and Blackfeet Indian reservations and other wildlands extending south to Missoula.https://f4d3d4a1462421edf6e8184efb847da3.safeframe.googlesyndication.com/safeframe/1-0-38/html/container.htmlWatch now: One-star Glacier Park reviews IIPlay Video

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The environmental groups argued that Flathead Forest officials improperly abandoned old rules limiting forest road construction and requiring removal of unnecessary roads in places critical to grizzlies and bull trout. Road access frequently leads to bears getting killed in vehicle accidents or hunting incidents, and erosion from road surfaces can ruin streambeds bull trout need to spawn.

The groups also raised a number of other objections to the new forest plan, including the way it reviewed snowmobile and off-road vehicle routes, how it calculated harm to bears and fish for management purposes and how the overall plan was approved.

However, Molloy left the Flathead Forest’s forest plan in place, noting that both sides agreed the new plan was, on the whole, better for people and animals than the 1986 plan it replaces.

That means six forest projects currently in the works should stay active. They include the Taylor-Hellroaring, Hellroaring Basin Improvements, Crystal Cedar and March Madness blowdown salvage projects.

“If the revised plan were vacated, the economic impact on defendant-intervenors and on the local communities that depend on approved projects for employment could be severe,” Molloy wrote.

That included 575 wood industry jobs with an annual payroll of more than $40 million, along with at least eight other forest projects developing under the new forest plan. Instead, Molloy relied on the Forest Service’s testimony that “any project under the revised plan would have to be examined individually; if the project impacted roads, grizzly bears or bull trout, the project would require a site-specific consultation and a biological assessment with the Fish and Wildlife Service.”

Molloy rejected the environmental groups’ argument that the Flathead Plan unlawfully expanded snowmobile access in critical wildlife habitat. Instead, he ruled those snowmobile travel plans were already in place before the new forest plan got finalized, so it didn’t produce any changes. He also dismissed challenges to the Forest Service’s interpretation of travel-management rules for off-road vehicle use.

But he agreed the Fish and Wildlife Service failed to properly analyze how new forest management might hurt bears and trout, and that the Forest Service improperly relied on the FWS’ flawed analysis. For example, the groups showed that more than two-thirds of officially closed roads in the Swan Lake Ranger District showed signs of trespassing motor vehicles.

https://www.usatoday.com/story/news/nation/2021/06/25/birds-get-mysterious-illness-appear-disoriented-die/5326276001/?fbclid=IwAR3Le-1a7-ONQha_avjUcMDH2vT1_QXh2MaX2Ol1mhV7lMK8QIa4wGsv9mk

Jordan MendozaUSA TODAY0:362:33

Hundreds of birds across the eastern United States have been dying from a mysterious illness, and wildlife experts aren’t sure what is causing it.

In late May, The Washington Post reported birds in the Washington, D.C., area were starting to die. Since then, six states – Ohio, Kentucky, Indiana, Maryland, Virginia and West Virginia – have reported similar instances.

Laura Kearns, a wildlife biologist with the Ohio Division of Wildlife, spoke with USA TODAY about what symptoms these birds are experiencing, what may be causing this illness and what people could do to help the birds.

“I’ve been in contact with the biologists in Indiana and Kentucky, where this is happening, and they’re reporting similar things,” Kearns said. “There are many different diagnostic labs working on this.”https://140eb824e776533f7fd15c255983909f.safeframe.googlesyndication.com/safeframe/1-0-38/html/container.html

Birds appear disoriented with bulging eyes

Kearns said not all birds have the same exact symptoms, but one thing is common: physical changes around the eyes.

“Some report crustiness around the eyes, some report like bulging or swollen eyes. And then we’ve also had reports of the eyes being kind of sunken in,” Kearns said.

She added the birds also show neurological symptoms like not being able to keep their heads up or are uncoordinated, saying, “they just kind of seem disoriented.”https://140eb824e776533f7fd15c255983909f.safeframe.googlesyndication.com/safeframe/1-0-38/html/container.html

Bird flu: A man in China may be the world’s first human to be infected with H10N3 strain of bird flu. What we know.

Prehistoric: This little bird-like dinosaur hunted at night, study suggests

Bathroom break?: More than 800 migrating birds make a pit stop inside a family’s Southern California home

What type of birds affected?

The Ohio Division of Wildlife reported blue jays, common grackles, American Robins, European starlings and sparrows have been affected. The Indiana Department of Natural Resources also said Northern cardinals have been affected.

Why is this happening?

The Indiana Department of Natural Resources took samples from the sick birds and they tested negative for the avian flu and the West Nile virus. Samples were then sent to the National Wildlife Health Center. The agency said in early June it was also working alongside the University of Georgia Southeastern Cooperative Wildlife Disease Study and the University of Pennsylvania Wildlife Futures Program.Get the Coronavirus Watch newsletter in your inbox.

Stay safe and informed with updates on the spread of the coronavirusDelivery: Varies

“We are eagerly awaiting the results from them,” Kearns said.

Could cicadas be a factor?

Brian Evans, an ornithologist with the Smithsonian Migratory Bird Center in Washington, D.C., brought up the idea to the NPR that the illness began to appear around the same time the Brood X cicadas began to emerge. Experts have said eating too many cicadas can hurt a dog’s digestive system because their exoskeletons and shells are hard to digest.

Kearns acknowledged a theory birds may be eating cicadas infected with fungus that rots their bodies as ill birds have been found in areas where there are cicadas present. However, she says sick birds have also been found where there are no cicadas, so it may be something else.

What should people do?

There are multiple things people that have homes birds frequently visit can do to help. Kearns recommends people take down their bird feeders for 7-10 days, or until the mortalities stop occurring. 

The Indiana DNR says people should also clean bird feeders and baths with water and 10% bleach solution. People shouldn’t handle birds unless they are wearing disposable gloves and keep pets away from them. If someone encounters a dead bird, they should wear disposable gloves and place birds and gloves in a sealable plastic bag and throw away.

I’ve seen several pine martens up close and they all seemed to be different sizes. Those that I’ve seen in trees (in WA and in Jasper) looked about the size of the a small house cat. But, once in the Washington cascades, at a place called Kennedy Hot Springs in the Glacier Peak Wilderness Area, I was in the hot pool and one came up and peered a me as though he was checking to see where the humans were–then he ran back towards my campsite. His behavior seemed suspicious, so I went back to camp to check on my belongings. Sure enough, what looked like a large pine marten was standing up and rummaging through my pack, which I’d left leaning against a log. It seemed to me the animal was more than the average 3 lbs., since he could reach into the top of my pack while standing with his hind feet flat on the ground. Since then, all the other martens I’ve seen seemed smaller than that individual. Reading now that the old-world pine martens were sometimes larger makes me wonder if there is sometime more variance in pine marten on this continent too.

Here’s one I saw in Jasper National Park in Alberta, Canada:

https://www.all-creatures.org/aw/pinemarten.html