BY CLAYTON VICKERS – 04/02/24 6:27 PM ET

SHAREPOST https://thehill.com/policy/healthcare/4570623-second-bird-flu-case-human-us/

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Federal authorities are downplaying the public health risk after the second ever case of a human contracting the “highly pathogenic” bird flu in the United States was confirmed in Texas on Monday. 

The infected man was exposed while he worked as a dairy worker, the Texas Department of State Health Services said. The person had minor symptoms but has received treatment, state health officials said.

“This infection does not change the H5N1 bird flu human health risk assessment for the U.S. general public, which CDC considers to be low,” the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) said in a statement on Monday. 

The CDC added that people with “close or prolonged, unprotected exposures to infected birds or other animals (including livestock), or to environments contaminated by infected birds or other animals” are at greater risk of infection.

USDA has confirmed infections of dairy cattle herds in five states — Texas, Kansas, Michigan, New Mexico — with results in Idaho “presumed” to be positive.

The movement of cattle across state lines, especially from Texas, has accounted for the spread, according to CDC. States like Nebraska have issued temporary restrictions on cattle imports because of the bird flu. 

Here’s what to know.

Worst outbreak in U.S. history among animals

Bird flu, also known as H5N1 or avian influenza, has ravaged billions of dollars of poultry across the world, but mass infections of cattle — and human infections — are rare.

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The avian flu’s modern history in humans begins in China in 1996, where it spread from geese to people in Hong Kong the following year. In a two month period, it killed a third of the 18 people it infected, according to the CDC.

The Hong Kong outbreak showed for the first time that the virus could transmit from birds to humans directly. Direct, prolonged contact with or consumption of infected birds has often explained avian flu transmission in the nearly three decades since.

However, cases of humans contracting the disease since have been sporadic and isolated. The worst fear among public health experts is human-to-human transmission of the virus, which has yet to occur.

Still, the virus has killed more than 50 percent of its human victims from 2003 to 2016, according to a study published by the National Institute of Health (NIH). 

Second-ever human infection in US

The infection of the Texan dairy worker is the second–ever infection in the U.S., but the first contracted from cattle.

In 2022, a Colorado prisoner, participating in a work program at a poultry facility, contracted the virus after killing infected birds. 

Neither the Texas dairy worker nor the Colorado prisoner experienced serious symptoms, and both have recovered after treatment, according to the CDC.

Record outbreak among poultry

In the U.S, the highly pathogenic avian influenza (HPAI) has spread to affect 82 million birds in 48 states, resulting in massive culls of commercial poultry and billions of dollars in losses — the worst outbreak of bird flu in U.S. history, according to the USDA. 

Just a day after the dairy worker infection, Cal-Maine Foods, a major poultry producer, was ordered to “depopulate” nearly 2 million chickens after a positive test for HPAI at their facility in Farwell, Texas.

Sid Miller, commissioner of the Texas Department of Agriculture, ordered the plant’s temporary closure and called on producers to act.

“Given this latest development, all producers must practice heightened biosecurity measures. The rapid spread of this virus means we must act quickly,” he said. 

Because the virus is an influenza variant with a “natural reservoir” in wild aquatic birds, it is impossible to eradicate and zoonotic infections will continue, according to the World Health Organization (WHO). 

The CDC has labeled the risk to the public “low” after finding no mutations for human transmission, and has said commercial products like milk, eggs and poultry remain safe.

The spread of avian influenza has public health officials on guard. 

WHO has called for extensive monitoring of all cases of HPAI, animal or human, for signs that it may be mutating to threaten humans.

“The emergence of an influenza A virus with the ability to infect people and sustain human-to-human transmission could cause an influenza pandemic,” WHO said. “[The] human population has little to no immunity against the virus,” it added. 

The CDC has recommended people practice good hygiene, avoid sick or dead animals, animal fecal matter and consumption of untreated or uncooked animal products like raw milk or raw eggs.

The big cats were apparently wiped out by the 1980s, but new research hints this may not have been the case.

MADDY CHAPMAN

• https://www.iflscience.com/javan-tiger-may-not-be-extinct-after-all-dna-analysis-of-hair-suggests-73619

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EditedbyFrancesca Benson

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Once declared extinct, a type of Indonesian tiger may still be around, recent DNA analysis has tentatively suggested. Much more research is needed to be certain, but conservationists say there is now a glimmer of hope the Javan tiger could still be out there, roaming the island’s forests.

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https://imasdk.googleapis.com/js/core/bridge3.631.0_en.html#goog_213871017Top Stories01:12A 130,000-Year-Old “Stingray Sand Sculpture” MayBe World’s Oldest Animal Art

The Javan tiger (Panthera tigris sondaica) was categorized as Extinct on the IUCN Red List back in 2008. Since then, there have been a handful of potential observations, each without substantiative evidence to back them up. However, in 2019, locals sighted what they thought was a Javan tiger near the village of Cipendeuy in the forest of South Sukabumi, West Java, alongside footprints and claw marks. They collected a single hair from a nearby fence.

Analysis of this hair points towards it belonging to a Javan tiger, although further research is needed to confirm its existence. “Whether the Javan tiger actually still occurs in the wild needs to be confirmed with further genetic and field studies,” the team concludes in their study.

Still, the prospect has stirred public interest, and even efforts among Indonesian conservationists to investigate whether this “extinct” big cat is indeed still alive and kicking.

“The research has sparked speculation that the Javan tiger is still in the wild,” Satyawan Pudyatmoko, the Indonesian ministry official who oversees conservation, told Reuters. “We have prepared and will prepare efforts to respond to it.”

According to Reuters, these include setting up camera traps and conducting extensive DNA sweeps, as well as seeking advice from genetics experts to identify any that may remain in the wild.

The Javan tiger was native to Indonesia, one of three subspecies of tiger formerly found in the country. In 2013, the Bali tiger (P. tigris balica) was also declared Extinct by the IUCN, leaving just the Sumatran tiger (P. tigris sumatrae) surviving.

Hunting and destruction of habitat are thought to be among the causes of the Javan subspecies’ extinction

In the new research, scientists studied mitochondrial DNA (mtDNA) – maternally inherited genetic material found outside the nucleus – from the hair and compared it with that of a Javan tiger museum specimen, collected in 1930. Hair samples of several tiger subspecies and the Javan leopard (Panthera pardus melas) were used as controls. 

“From this comprehensive mtDNA analysis we conclude that the hair sample from South Sukabumi belongs to the Javan tiger, and that it falls in the same group as the Javan tiger museum specimen collected in 1930,” the team write.

Whether or not the subspecies still exists in the wild is another matter. But with the efforts the latest discovery has inspired, we might soon find out – and then, if it turns out there are still some Javan tigers out there, we’ll have to do what we can to protect them.

“If, for example, it is proven that it still exists, it will certainly become a protected animal,” Pudyatmoko told AFP. “It is the obligation of all parties, including the society, to participate in preserving their population.”

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Tue, 04/02/2024 – 15:28 | rob

Nearly four years ago to the day, as America faced unprecedented challenges, the Forest Service began a rushed and rigged process to undermine the only protections for Eastern Oregon’s largest and oldest trees. Just hours before President Biden’s inauguration, a Trump political appointee signed a decision gutting protections known as “the Screens.”

Oregon Wild, conservation allies, tribes, and scientists all joined the fight and challenged the removal of these protections in court. 

Late last Friday, those protections were fully reinstated!

This is a shared victory. In making her ruling, the judge noted the thousands of you who weighed in through comments, as well as our members and supporters who came from across the state to pack the courthouse.

Safeguards of Wildlife, Water, and Climate

Eastern Oregon’s diverse forests are often overlooked, but science is telling us they play a globally important role in the urgent fight against climate change and the biodiversity crisis. One of the safeguards of those important values are known as the Screens. 

The Screens prohibit trees over 21” in diameter at breast height (dbh) from being logged in the National Forests of Eastern Oregon and Washington that were not included in the Northwest Forest Plan. They are the most meaningful – and arguably only – protections for big and old trees in those places. 

These protections were initially put into place by herculean efforts from environmental champions, including our own Tim Lillebo. After three decades, we know they have effectively protected wildlife habitat, sequestered carbon, and conserved other important values.

Court Cites Public Concern, Restores the Screens

Represented by CRAG Law Center, joined by half a dozen conservation allies, and supported by the Nez Perce Tribe, we took the agency to court for its illegal actions to undermine public process and strip away the protections of the Screens. It was a relief when, last August, a magistrate agreed the agency had violated several of the country’s bedrock environmental laws. He recommended the Screens be reinstated.

However, in a quirk of the justice system, those recommendations had to be formally approved and adopted by another judge. We had to wait until March to know if those recommendations would stick. And they did!

Friday’s ruling affirms a Magistrate Judge’s decision last summer, saying the agency violated numerous bedrock environmental laws, and fully reinstates the Screens.

Threats on the Horizon

Still, we know the fight continues. 

Forest Service leadership continues to push for more discretion to do the bidding of their industry collaborators. They may still appeal this case, wasting more time and money. 

Even as the Biden Administration works to develop national rules to protect mature and old-growth trees, agency leadership continues to push in the opposite direction. 

Specifically, for over six years, regional leadership has been working with an exclusive group dominated by industry allies to change forest plans in Eastern Oregon. 

That’s why we hope you’ll sign our petition sending a clear message to the Forest Service that it’s time to do the right thing. We hope they’ll listen. If they don’t, at least we know the courts will.

Greater Hells Canyon Council, Oregon Wild, Central Oregon LandWatch, Great Old Broads for Wilderness, WildEarth Guardians, and the Sierra Club are represented by attorneys Meriel Darzen and Oliver Stiefel from the nonprofit Crag Law Center. 

The DNR is investigating one of the first confirmed wolf sightings in the southern lower peninsula in more than 100 years

Copyright 2024 The Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.

Photo by: Gary Kramer/AP

FILE – This April 18, 2008, file photo provided by the U.S. Fish and Wildlife shows a gray wolf. Members of Congress have proposed legislation that would remove court-imposed legal protections for gray wolves in four states. Bills introduced Wednesday, Feb. 11, 2015 by Reps. John Kline of Minnesota and Reid Ribble of Wisconsin seek to override decisions by federal judges last year to restore legal protection to wolves in Wyoming and the western Great Lakes states of Minnesota, Michigan and Wisconsin. (AP Photo/U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, Gary Kramer, File)

By: Zac Harmon

Posted at 10:32 AM, Apr 03, 2024

and last updated 7:32 AM, Apr 03, 2024

https://www.fox17online.com/news/local-news/kzoo-bc/calhoun/gray-wolf-killed-during-coyote-hunt-in-calhoun-county

CALHOUN COUNTY, Mich. — For the first time in more than 100 years, a gray wolf has been spotted in the wild in West Michigan. However the discovery only came after the animal had been killed.

The Michigan Department of Natural Resources is investigating after a hunter taking part in a coyote hunt reported shooting and killing the wolf in January. The hunt, which the DNR says was legal, happened in Calhoun County.

The hunter and a guide reported they located what they thought was a large coyote. When harvesting the animal, they noted it weighed 84 pounds. Eastern coyotes typically weigh between 25 pounds and 40 pounds.

Genetic tests on the animal confirmed it was a gray wolf.

The DNR says gray wolves haven’t been seen in the southern Lower Peninsula since they were killed and driven out of the state in the early 20th century. Current wolf packs are generally confined to the Upper Peninsula, though some limited sightings have been made in the past two decades in the northern Lower Peninsula.

In October 2004, a wolf originally collared in the eastern Upper Peninsula was captured and killed by a coyote trapper in Presque Isle County. In 2011 and 2015, track evidence consistent with wolf-like animals was observed in Cheboygan and Emmet counties. In 2014, biologists from the Little Traverse Bay Bands of Odawa Indians captured a wolf on a trail camera during an eagle survey. DNA analysis of scat collected at the site confirmed the animal as a wolf.

The DNR says this wolf’s appearance in Calhoun County remains a mystery. Wolves are known to travel thousands of miles, even outside their established range. The DNR says the wolf likely was not part of an established pack in West Michigan.

“This is an unusual case, and the DNR is actively delving into the matter to learn more about this particular animal’s origin,” said Brian Roell, large carnivore specialist for the DNR. “While rare, instances of wolves traversing vast distances have been documented, including signs of wolves in recent decades in Michigan’s Lower Peninsula.”

Wolves are currently an endangered species in Michigan by federal court order. Wolves can be killed only if they are a direct and immediate threat to human life. Livestock owners affected by wolf depredation can receive compensation for their losses. Hunting wolves while they are on the endangered species list is prohibited.

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https://www.adirondackalmanack.com/2024/04/new-bill-introduced-to-protect-wolves-in-new-york.html

Senator Hoylman-Sigal and Assembly Member Carroll introduced legislation to require DEC to collect and analyze data about large canids in New York

New legislation (S.7927A/A.08295A), sponsored by Senator Brad Hoylman-Sigal and Assembly Member Robert Carroll, will direct the NYS Department of Environmental Conservation (DEC) to collect data about canids that have specified characteristics that are killed by hunters and trappers in New York. The data collected will help DEC to identify areas of the state where wolves, a protected endangered species, may be present and will direct DEC to collect important genetic information on coyote and wolf populations in the state. The legislation does not reduce the hunting season or decrease bag limits for hunters and trappers lawfully killing coyotes or other game animals in New York State.

Senator Hoylman-Sigal said: “Wolves are protected as an endangered species under both New York State and Federal law. Despite that, hunters and trappers too often mistake wolves for coyotes, due to their similar appearance, and kill them anyway. In order to ensure these precious creatures do not go extinct, we need to strengthen the protections for wolves under New York State law. We can do that by passing our bill (S.7927A) to require the NYS Department of Environmental Conservation to collect genetic data about large canids killed by hunters and trappers in New York. The data collected will help the Department of Environmental Conservation identify areas of the state where wolves may be present and keep the department, and the public, informed about where more precautions and restrictions are needed to protect these endangered animals.”

“By putting in place measures to identify and account for wolves in New York State this bill, if enacted, will be essential in protecting this endangered species as well as fostering biodiversity and a healthy eco-system,” said Assemblymember Robert Carroll.

The legislation requires hunters and trappers to report to DEC coyotes killed, as required for numerous other species, to collect key information on the characteristics of animals killed, number of animals killed, and location data. Canids that weigh greater than 50 pounds will be subjected to DNA analysis by DEC to determine the genetic ancestry of the animal. If DNA analysis shows that the animal is a wolf, DEC may impose a temporary moratorium on the killing of wild canids in a specific area in order to protect any federally and state protected wolves in the area. DEC will have the discretion to determine the length of time and the location of the moratorium.

DEC will also be required to provide information on wild canids to the public including any DNA test results of wild canids. DEC will also be required to update its hunting and trapping educational materials to provide hunters and trappers with information on the legal status for wolves, and how to distinguish a wolf from a coyote in the field. DEC will also be required to submit a report on the status of wolves in New York State.

Wolves historically inhabited much of the lower 48 United States, but by the early 1900s were extirpated throughout most of their range, including in New York State, due to intentional eradication campaigns. Wolves are ecologically essential for healthy functioning ecosystems, can disperse hundreds of miles, and reestablish territories if sufficient legal protections are in place to allow them safe passage. Over the past few decades, wolves have periodically migrated into New York and neighboring northeastern states from Canada and the Great Lakes. However, due to the similarity in appearance between wolves and large eastern coyotes, these animals have been and will continue to be killed by hunters and trappers in New York. Since wolves are protected as endangered species according to both federal and New York State law, there is a need for specific on-the-ground actions to prevent future killings due to mistaken species identity.

“This legislation will provide improved protections to wolves in New York State and it will develop sound scientific information for the DEC, the public and the Legislature to guide policy and management into the future. This is common-sense legislation to gather important genetic data on wild canids in the State, and to afford wolves a stronger chance to survive and re-establish themselves in their former home territory within New York State,” said Claudia Braymer, Deputy Director, of Protect the Adirondacks.

“As apex predators, wolves help create balance in their ecosystems by eating old, sick, and weak prey. They help keep deer, moose, beaver, and other populations in check, subsequently affecting vegetation growth and diversity. For this reason, they are an important component in establishing and maintaining a biologically diverse ecosystem. Wolves are naturally returning to the Northeast, representing the beginning of a necessary healing of the ecosystem. Legislation aimed at establishing measures to account for wolves in the state, as well as expanding hunter education on canid identification, will be imperative in ensuring that wolves are protected as they return to the region,” said Elizabeth Ahearn, Conservation Associate, Sierra Club Atlantic Chapter.

“Wolves returning to New York could usher in the next great rewilding success story, but not if dispersing wolves are misidentified as coyotes and killed once they set foot within the state,” said Renee Seacor, Project Coyote’s Carnivore Conservation Director. “This bill provides a common sense approach to wolf recovery, by facilitating crucial genetic research to better understand New York’s wild canids, and laying the groundwork for sound science-based management.”

“DEC recognizes all the issues that this bill addresses: that wolves have migrated to New York, are protected under federal and state law, and have mixed genetically with coyotes. The steps that the agency and hunters would need to take are no different than with other wildlife species that require sound management—while also giving wolves a fighting chance for recovery in New York and across the Northeast,” said Nadia Steinzor, Northeast Carnivore Advocate, the Rewilding Institute.

“All canids, including wolves and coyotes, are valued members of healthy ecosystems. Every documented case of wolves in the Northeast since their extirpation is most likely only a fraction of the wolves actually present. By requiring the DNA testing of canids in New York, we’re laying a foundation to better understand and protect the wildlife that call our state home,” said Regan Downey, Director of Education, Wolf Conservation Center.

“This legislation strategically advances New York’s understanding and conservation of its wildlife, in particular its wild canids. The bill helps the NYS Department of Environmental Conservation carry out DEC’s stated goals of distinguishing coyotes from wolves and of advising conservationists and hunters of these distinguishing characteristics. It also materially assists NYS DEC in its legislated mandate to conserve all wild canids and to protect endangered species including wolves,” said Dave Gibson, managing partner, Adirondack Wild: Friends of the Forest Preserve.

“Wolves are already returning to New York and this bill will help ensure their homecoming is that much safer,” said Tala DiBenedetto, a staff attorney at the Center for Biological Diversity. “Protecting wolves by enacting this practical measure is a crucial step for New York but also an excellent model for other states in the Northeast. Wolves once ranged across the entire region and there’s still plenty of good habitat for them to reestablish here.”

Photo at top: Gray Wolf. Wikimedia Commons photo.