Canada~128 Bison killed by natural anthrax outbreak Update 7/10/12

[link to video.godlikeproductions.com]

Hey, koffee, good find.

Hope you're doing well, staying cool and all.

Hello!

I'm doing fine--just getting tired and heading off to bed.

I hope the same for you, too!

Finally caught a break from the blistering heat--hope it stays for awhile.

[link to video.godlikeproductions.com]

About four years ago I went on a ten day canoe trip through Wood Buffalo National Park. This Park is remote. According to Parks Canada I was the fifth person to canoe the route that year. The trip is a totally solitary affair, did not see a single soul...until the eighth day. On that afternoon a string of fires appeared along the north shore of the river. I steered my canoe towards the fire hoping to see some new faces...I saw no faces, a team dressed in hazmat suits, American flags stiched on their shoulders came out of the forest and vigourously waved me away...for the next two days of my trip I believed the world as I knew it had ended.

I turns out anthrax has been in the ground at the park for close to 100 years and it has a very long lifespan. The Americans were in training and were being taught how to deal with Anthrax outbreaks...burn the bodies to ashes and bury the ashes...

Wow, I got an eerie feeling just reading this--can't imagine what you must've felt.

The trip was amazing, the Slave Rive is the third largest watershed in North America. The river is a couple miles wide in some places. I have never seen so many bald eagles in my life and this is after seeing trees full of them in Prince Rupert. I saw two Whooping Cranes do a coutship ritual...they fly straight up and twist around each other like a DNA strand...but, yeah...as I drifted towards Fort Fitzgerald I had my Omega Man moment.

Did not know that about anthrax! Poor bison. In the US we're trying to grow our herds of bison.

On the other note, what a GRAND way to spend a week or two on that river paddle!

I thought Anthrax was man made?


I call on this story! No way, No how!

Anthrax has been around forever. During dry years it pops up from place to place. I can remember the burning and burying of cattle carcases during a drought in the 1950's.
It is always in the soil. When grazing animals are forced to eat the grass down to the roots during droughts, they are exposed to more of the germs.

Last Edited by MuzzleBreak on 07/09/2012 02:38 PM

I can just imagine the thoughts running through your mind. Lets hope they can keep this outbreak in check.

If I was still eating local meat this would be more personally distressing. Thanks to Fukushima, what I really care about is Australian and new Zealand herds.

You guys really think this is Natural? With the Polar Bears getting sick and other Northern Wildlife, you believe the story that it is Natural and not man made.......

Thank you for the post, OP.

I moved to Yellowknife in the Northwest Territories 23 years ago. Although I came back south ten years later, my children still live there and I go up to visit when I can, especially for the Folk on the Rocks Festival where I can connect with all my old friends and family at the same time.

The herds have really grown in the past 23 years. We used to see them just outside of Fort Providence, on the way to Yellowknife, but now you encounter bison and bison sign the whole 300 km to Yellowknife. The Mills Lake herd that suffered the anthhrax, crosses the Mackenzie Highway too.

They cross the highways with great discipline, the younger bulls watch for traffic and act as crossing guards to the calves. I'm not BSing. Of course, you only see vehicles every half hour or so, but they still cross carefully.


The herds were actually transplanted to the NWT from further south. I think that they are a bit susceptible to disease beacause of the harsh climate, but they flourish nevertheless.

Last Edited by Deplorable Klinger on 07/09/2012 03:19 PM

[link to usnews.msnbc.msn.com]

Wildlife experts are studying whether fur loss and open sores detected in nine polar bears in recent weeks is widespread and related to similar incidents among seals and walruses.

USGS

This polar bear was sedated to study its fur loss and oozing sores on the left side of its neck.

The bears were among 33 spotted near Barrow, Alaska, during routine survey work along the Arctic coastline. Tests showed they had "alopecia, or loss of fur, and other skin lesions," the U.S. Geological Survey said in a statement. "The animals were otherwise healthy in appearance and behavior."

It's actually called the Harper disease it's why Jack Layton died.

Polar bears have symptoms of mystery disease: U.S. agency


.reuters.com/article/2012/04/06/us-polarbears-idUSBRE8350MX20​120406



Symptoms of a mysterious disease that has killed scores of seals off Alaska and infected walruses are now showing up in polar bears, the U.S. Geological Survey (USGS) said on Friday.

Nine polar bears from the Beaufort Sea region near Barrow were found with patchy hair loss and oozing sores on their skin, similar to conditions found in diseased seals and walruses, the agency said in a statement.

Unlike the sickened seals and walruses, the affected polar bears seem otherwise healthy, said Tony DeGange, chief of the biology office for the USGS's Alaska Science Center. There had been no deaths among polar bears, he said.

The nine affected bears were among the 33 that biologists have captured and sampled while doing routine studies on the Arctic coastline, DeGange said.

Patchy hair loss has been seen before in polar bears, but the high prevalence in those spotted by the researchers and the simultaneous problems in seal and walrus populations elevate the concern, he said.

The USGS is coordinating with agencies studying the other animals to investigate whether there is a link, he said.

"There's a lot we don't know yet, whether we're dealing with something that's different or something that's the same," he said.

The disease outbreak was first noticed last summer. About 60 seals were found dead and another 75 diseased, according to National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA). Most of the affected seals are ringed seals, but diseased ribbon, bearded and spotted seals were also found.

Several walruses in northwestern Alaska were found with the disease, and some of those died as well, according to the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service.

The diseased seals and walruses, many of them juveniles, had labored breathing and lethargy as well as the bleeding sores, according to the experts. The agencies launched an investigation into the cause of the disease, which has also turned up in bordering areas of Canada and Russia.

Preliminary studies showed that radiation poisoning is not the cause, temporarily ruling out a theory that the animals were sickened by contamination from the tsunami-wrecked Fukushima nuclear plant in Japan.

Spread of the disease among seals continues. A sickened and nearly bald ribbon seal pup was found about a month ago near Yakutat on the Gulf of Alaska coastline, according to the agency. The animal was so sick it had to be euthanized.

All of the afflicted species are dependent on Arctic sea ice and considered vulnerable to seasonal ice loss.

Polar bears are listed as threatened under the Endangered Species Act, and listings are being considered for the Pacific walrus and for the ringed, bearded and ribbon seals.

Anthrax is the name of the disease. It derives its name from the Greek word for coal because it causes dark, coal-like sores on the skin.

The organism that causes Anthrax is the bacterium Bacillus anthracis.

The following was taken from Wikipedia:

Bacillus anthracis can form dormant endospores (often referred to as "spores" for short, but not to be confused
with fungal spores) that are able to survive in harsh conditions for decades or even centuries.

Anthrax spores can be produced in vitro and used as a biological weapon.

Bacillus anthracis bacterial spores are soil-borne, and, because of their long lifetime, they are still present
globally and at animal burial sites of anthrax-killed animals for many decades; spores have been known to have
reinfected animals over 70 years after burial sites of anthrax-infected animals were disturbed

[link to en.wikipedia.org]

Last Edited by KoFFee_ on 07/09/2012 03:20 PM

A news article from today:

Dead Danish drug user tests positive for anthrax

Danish authorities say an intravenous drug user who injected heroin and died has tested positive for anthrax.

The Health Ministry suspects the drug was contaminated with the bacillus anthracis strain of anthrax.

The 55-year-old addict died Sunday.

Read the rest here:
[link to news.yahoo.com]

I think the heat and dry spells are going to bring a lot of dormant spores to life....Kinda scary.

I was thinking the same!

It's sad that these deadly microorganisms exist. I would think that there is an advantage for there existence, but I don't know what it is.

We have 3 Bison at our local zoo. It's kind of sad to see them there--they don't do much but stand or lay around.

I'm sure the heat got to them this past week.

Must be quite a thrill to see a large herd of them!

Now that's getting pretty close:




[link to video.godlikeproductions.com]

The Canadians have been aggressively fighting this disease with the tools to hand; -- that is, actively looking for
fresh anthrax carcasses and promptly burning them. And this has kept outbreaks in manageable numbers.
They use teams of "hotshot" forestry firemen to burn the carcasses, who manage to burn up to 3 in a day.
This is no mean feat as wood bison bulls weigh around 2500 lbs/1200 Kgs; they are significantly bigger than plains bison.

Back in the 1960s vaccination was attempted in the Wood Bison National Park but it was very expensive and involved a worrying bison mortality from stress.

It is clear that this epidemic, like the 1993 one, was aided by a good hatch of tabanid biting flies; in 1993 the bison were noted to be "black" with flies.

You can read more here:

[link to www.geostrategicforecasting.com]

Health and Safety Watch site:

As a precaution, the Department of Environment and Natural Resources (ENR) has activated the Anthrax Emergency Response Plan. An ENR Incident Command team will be stationed in Fort Providence to deal with the potential outbreak.

The area is about 30 kilometres northwest of Fort Providence and is only accessible by boat at this time of year

[link to www.healthandsafetywatch.com]

I know...I could have eaten those...

It was also rampant in South Dakota in the 70's