A recent spate of attacks on humans and pets by foxes in Topsham may be in part due to a new strain of rabies. As of April 18, there have been five such attacks in Topsham this year. State Veterinarian Michele Walsh theorizes a rabies strain more associated with raccoons has begun infecting gray foxes.
In recent months, bears have shredded a car’s interior, wandered into a liquor store, even woken residents in their own bedrooms.
Exterminators are fielding more calls about rodent activity. Rat-related calls are up 20 percent from last year; include mice and calls are up 57 percent.
Hiila Inga is concerned about the health of his reindeer. His community herds 8000 head each year, between traditional grazing lands in the mountain and the forests further east.
Biologists say plentiful food and other conditions are helping the rodents to thrive, and now the young ones are hitting the road.
The size of a large caribou herd in Alaska's Arctic region has dropped by more 50 percent over the last three years, and researchers who have tentatively ruled out hunting and predation as significant factors for the decline are trying to determine why.
Mycoplasma ovipneumoniae ("Movi") is a respiratory bacterium that can cause disease in susceptible hosts. Previously thought to be host-restricted to sheep and goat species, scientists have identified Movi for the first time in healthy moose and caribou in Alaska; a bison in Montana; mule deer in New Mexico, and diseased white-tailed deer from the upper Midwest.
Anchorage can no longer claim to be the largest port city in the Northern Hemisphere without known rat infestations. State biologist Rick Sinnott caught and kille dtwo Norway rats found living at a pond near a South Anchorage school. Professional exterminatiors hired by the city placed more traps at the scene Monday afternoon.
An elk was spotted swimming to the island of Utö in the Finnish archipelago, marking the first sighting of the animal in 40 years.
The Food Authority noted that it might be possible that foxes are more susceptible to avian flu infections than mink. However, the agency also suggested that infection prevention protocols may not have worked as well at fox farms compared to facilities that raise mink. The authority has now confirmed avian influenza cases at a total of 42 fur farms in Finland.
The exact virus type is still being determined, but measures are being taken to protect workers and prevent transmission to humans.
Highly pathogenic avian influenza (HPAI) A(H5N1) is a strain of the avian influenza virus that primarily affects birds, particularly poultry. It has been detected in farmed mink.
The past few decades have been the most significant for the damage the mice have caused, said Dr. Anton Wolfaardt, the Mouse-Free Marion project manager. He said their numbers have increased hugely, mainly due to rising temperatures from climate change, which has turned a cold, windswept island into a warmer, drier, more hospitable home.
Some 1,600 bats found a temporary home this week in the attic of a Houston Humane Society director, but it wasn’t because they made it their roost. It was a temporary recovery space for the flying mammals after they lost their grip and plunged to the pavement after going into hypothermic shock during the city’s recent cold snap .
Named Nakoda by locals, the bear has been seen in Yoho and Banff national parks before, but not very often.
Since November, six foxes and three dogs in Nunavut have been found to be infected with rabies. Wednesday’s fox attack brings the total to seven foxes and five dogs with likely rabies infections.
She was then driven immediately to the hospital, where she got treatment for a potential rabies infection. Over the past month, there has been an increase in fox sightings and cases of rabies in foxes in the communities of Igloolik and Iqaluit. A fox was confirmed to have rabies in Igloolik on Dec. 14, while two foxes have been reported to have rabies in Iqaluit over the past five weeks.
Yukon conservation officers have euthanized a grizzly bear that was originally sighted near Braeburn.
Five years after they were forced to come up with strategies to protect habitat for the boreal caribou, not a single province has met that deadline, according to a federal government progress report released today.
A 1990 elk management plan recommended 100 animals as a reasonable number, based on resources available for the animals, Cathers said. But that number has since ballooned, causing more agricultural conflicts. Part of the problem goes back to 2008, when elk wintered in fenced off enclosures after winter ticks were discovered.
All Topics
All Countries
Any Date
Apply