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Two NJ cats test positive for bird flu amid national outbreak
NorthJersey.com
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1:09
- Two cats tested positive for bird flu in Hunterdon County, New Jersey
- One cat was feral, the other was indoor-outdoor
- The feral cat was euthanized after developing “severe disease”
- Humans who came into contact with the cats have not developed any symptoms
Two cats tested positive for avian influenza in New Jersey, but the likelihood of feline-to-human transmission remains low, health officials said Friday.
The two cats — one feral, the other an indoor-outdoor cat — were found on the same property in Hunterdon County with other cats who also appeared to be sick, state Health Department officials said. Tests on the other cats are pending.
The feral cat “developed severe disease” including neurologic impairments. It was euthanized. Health officials did not say how sick the indoor-outdoor cat became or whether it was euthanized.
It is not known how the cats became infected. They had not come into contact with infected poultry or livestock, but they roamed outdoors and could have come into contact with infected birds or other animals, health officials said.
Humans who came into contact with the cats have not developed any symptoms. No human cases have been reported in New Jersey.
It is not unusual for cats to become infected with bird flu and develop severe illness. While cats in other states have become infected during the national outbreak, there have been no reports of transmission to humans, health officials said. Most of the infected humans had close contact with infected chickens and cows.
The news comes a week after officials reported the first case of bird flu in poultry in New Jersey. The bird was found during testing at a live poultry market in Union County that was subsequently shut down temporarily to sanitize the facility.
Highly pathogenic avian influenza or H5N1 has already been confirmed in wild birds in Warren and Salem Counties and presumed in birds found in Bergen, Morris, Sussex, Atlantic, Burlington, Cumberland, Mercer, Middlesex, Monmouth and Ocean Counties.
The outbreak has prompted millions of chickens to be killed, causing a nationwide egg shortage that has caused prices to skyrocket to more than $8 a dozen.
Healthy Beaches Spotlight: Surfrider Kaua’i is Helping Save Monk Seals One Eel Trap at a Time
Surfrider Chapters and Student Clubs do incredible work year after year keeping our beaches and coastlines beautiful and free of plastic pollution. Clean and healthy beaches are a universal benefit; people, wildlife, plants, and our coastal economies all prosper when our beaches are clean. The Surfrider Foundation tracks and shares detailed cleanup data to show the prevalence of plastic and trash on our beaches and uses this data to pass laws to ultimately reduce plastic pollution at the source.
Each year, Surfrider releases an annual Beach Cleanup Report looking at the health of our beaches from a national perspective. But we also think it is important to bring attention to the local stories and highlight the coastal activists doing inspiring work to keep our beaches beautiful. This month, we caught up with Dr. Carl Berg with the Surfrider Kaua’i Chapter to talk about their work tracking fishing gear and helping to save rare Hawaiian monk seal pups.
Q: Can you give us a quick overview of this project?
CB: Surfrider Kauaʻi’s North Pacific Eel Trap Project is an international, collaborative effort to reduce the number of discarded eel traps and reduce their impact on marine and coastal environment, in particular, the endangered Hawaiian monk seal.
Q: So what exactly is an eel trap and how do they harm monk seals?
CB: There are both eel trap entrances (ETE) and eel trap tubes (ETT). ETE are cone shaped objects used to trap eels and hagfish, an eel-like creature. They get loose and travel on ocean currents, landing on Hawaiʻi’s beaches where they can get stuck on the snouts of curious monk seal pups, causing them to starve if they’re not caught and rescued. Both ETE and ETT do not degrade and contribute to plastic marine debris and microplastic pollution of seas.
Left: Monk seal with ETE stuck on its snout. Photo courtesy of NOAA Fisheries(Permit #16632-02). Right: ETE collected on Lanai. Photo courtesy of Cheryl King.
Q: That is terrible! I haven’t heard of this before, so I’m curious how prevalent eel traps are?
CB: Our four-year total is 21,504 of ETE and ETT from the full range of the Hawaiian island chain. 2024 was a record-breaking year for the collection of ETE and ETT, with a record of 9,279 ETE and 347 ETT collected from the Hawaiian archipelago. Partners in Taiwan, Japan, South Korea also collected these traps.
Q: This problem sounds incredibly complex. Is there any solution on the horizon?
CB: Collaborating scientists in California and Rhode Island have designed a new ETE and are testing it with a polymer specifically designed to more quickly biodegrade on the bottom of the ocean, and to break in half so that it cannot get caught on monk seal snouts. I obtained a sample from a factory in Korea that creates biodegradable ETE and distributed it to US west coast fishermen for testing. As the biodegradable ETE do not float and disintegrate on the seafloor, their widespread use would greatly reduce the threat to marine life.
Q: Is there anything we can do to help?
CB: If you find an ETE or ETT on a beach near you, please take a photo, send it to hagfish@surfrider.org, and dispose of it properly by throwing it in the trash so it doesn’t return to the ocean.
Huge thank you to Dr. Carl Berg for leading these efforts on Kaua’i! If you want to read more about the success of the program in 2024, check out this blog post or visit their webpage to learn about the North Pacific Eel Trap Project.
Florida considers lifting bear hunting ban after nearly a decade
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Animal emotions can be decoded through voice recognition
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02-26-2025
Earth.com staff writer
Animal emotions can be difficult to decipher, but advances in technology may bring them into clearer focus. A new machine-learning model suggests it can distinguish between positive and negative emotional states in various animals.
These findings could change how we handle livestock and wildlife. After meticulously analyzing distinct calls from cows, pigs, and other relatives, the team realized that certain acoustic signals indicate mood shifts.
Voice patterns and animal emotions
A research team led by Professor Élodie F. Briefer at the University of Copenhagen introduced artificial intelligence to a large library of farm-animal sounds, hoping to identify subtle clues that reveal emotional states.
Machine learning is a computational approach that learns from examples. In this project, the technology compared audio features like pitch and loudness across different calls.
Trained on thousands of recordings, the system recognized which sounds relate to pleasant or unpleasant experiences. The technology reached 89.49% accuracy in discerning the emotional expressions of seven ungulate species.
These animals produce vocal cues that sometimes share evolutionary roots. Researchers suggest that certain voice patterns have remained stable over time, shedding light on how communicative signals might develop across related creatures.
How AI distinguishes animal emotions
The researchers noticed that vocal changes often accompany shifting emotional conditions. They found that duration, pitch range, and energy distribution were particularly telling.
For example, a short call might hint at excitement, while a slower call might reflect unease. This approach could help veterinarians and caretakers catch early warning signs of stress.
“This breakthrough provides solid evidence that AI can decode emotions across multiple species based on vocal patterns. It has the potential to revolutionise animal welfare, livestock management, and conservation, allowing us to monitor animals’ emotions in real time,” said Briefer.
Benefits of identifying animal emotions
Farm operators face recurring health and behavioral problems in herds. They may observe restlessness, poor feeding, or other signals that something is wrong.
“Understanding how animals express emotions can help us improve their well-being. If we can detect stress or discomfort early, we can intervene before it escalates,” said Briefer.
The new system could streamline daily observations. Advanced software might track changes automatically and alert staff when animals require a closer look.
Broader implications of the study
Some studies link emotional sounds in other mammals to evolutionary communication patterns. Darwin once discussed how shared traits might hint at common expressions of fear or pleasure in various creatures.
Finding parallels across different calls could offer insights into the building blocks of human language. It might illustrate how emotional intonation became a key ingredient in social bonding.
Investigators view this data as a starting point for ongoing research on animal emotions. It could spark fresh perspectives on how animals form social bonds or defend territories.
“We want this to be a resource for other scientists. By making the data open access, we hope to accelerate research into how AI can help us better understand animals and improve their welfare,” concluded Briefer.
Future research directions
These findings rely on carefully curated audio samples. Not every farm or field environment has perfect recording conditions.
Background noise, overlapping calls, and varying mic quality might hamper real-world performance. Researchers are working to refine the model for practical settings.
Experts also emphasize that decoding emotion is only part of the story. True well-being involves physical health and social needs.
Some farm scenarios involve high-density housing or specialized feeding routines. Technology that provides real-time feedback could help address issues before they become critical.
Future studies may explore if similar approaches apply to other groups, such as primates or marine mammals. Broader comparisons could test the limits of animal emotions and vocal expression similarities.
A better grasp on animal emotions
Industry leaders show interest in solutions that simplify monitoring. Automation might give them more time for direct interaction with animals.
The technology could be adapted for sanctuaries, zoos, or wildlife reserves. Each environment poses different hurdles in terms of space and animal grouping.
A better grasp of emotional signals might also shape ethical guidelines. Stakeholders can decide if certain practices are beneficial or harmful based on real-time metrics.
Artificial intelligence has come a long way in analyzing patterns. This venture into animal emotions might be another step that redefines how we see other beings.
The outcome might encourage more humane systems that appreciate the subtle ways that animals express themselves.
The study is published in iScience.
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Exposing the Big Game 