Biologist: Desert tortoises have flu-like illness

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• Biologist: Desert tortoises have flu-like illness
  November 26th, 2009 @ 4:12pm

ST. GEORGE, Utah (AP) -- It's cold and flu season on southern Utah's Red Cliffs Desert Reserve, only it's not people who are sick -- it the tortoises.

Utah Division of Wildlife Resources biologist Ann McLuckie said a recent survey of the animals found a growing number of the desert creatures suffering clinical signs of the disease, including runny noses and loose skin.

"They look despondent and not healthy," McLuckie said.

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Re: Biologist: Desert tortoises have flu-like illness

By MARK HAYNES, Salt Lake TribunenationalShareThis SALT LAKE CITY - Even desert tortoises get the flu.
A growing number of the animals in the Red Cliffs Desert Reserve in St. George, Utah have contracted what is believed to be a bacteria that produces symptoms similar to the malady as it appears in humans, including runny noses.
In an effort to learn more about what biologists suspect is an upper respiratory tract disease, reserve officials got funding from the Washington County Commission to pay a veterinary pathologist to conduct necropsies (animal autopsies) on up to six sick tortoises. The illness isn't transferable to humans.
"What the (disease) does is similar to what the common cold does to humans only it is more difficult to overcome," said Cameron Rognan, a wildlife biologist with the reserve, created in 1996 to protect the tortoise, which has been listed as a threatened species.
No one is certain why more tortoises are getting sick, but Rognan said it may be due to stress caused by recent drought conditions in southwest Utah. Nine of the animals in one section of the reserve appear to have symptoms.
Ann McLuckie, a wildlife biologist with the Division of Wildlife Resources in St. George, who monitors the reptiles on the 62,000-acre reserve, said the disease also made a significant appearance in 2002, killing many of the animals.
She said drought or fire can result in less food for the tortoises, which can make them more susceptible to disease.
"In a recent survey we found several tortoises with clinical signs of the disease including runny noses and loose skin," she said. "They look despondent and not healthy."
McLuckie said once tortoises contract the disease, they have it forever, but symptoms are not manifested when they have enough food and water.
"It's like when (humans) have a cold: If you take plenty of vitamin C and get plenty of sleep it goes away, but if you're under a lot of stress it could get worse," she said.
The disease appears to affect only adult tortoises and could be transmitted during mating when the normally solitary animals engage in rituals that include touching their bobbing heads.
She said the necropsies could determine the exact strain of bacteria causing the disease.
"Only necropsies can help confirm the disease and help determine how lethal and widespread an outbreak might be," she said.
McLuckie fears many of the infected animals won't survive hibernation, which lasts from now until spring. While it's illegal to possess the animals, McLuckie said no questions will be asked of individuals who drop off sick tortoises at the reserve office or the DWR.
McLuckie said that since 1990, about 400 of the tortoises have been located in the area now encompassed by the reserve, which is laced with 130 miles of hiking trails and is open to the public.
A veterinarian pathologist in Auburn, Ala., was chosen to perform the $1,500 necropsies. Results could take up to six months.
Desert tortoise facts:
-- Feed on plants, including such flowers as desert primrose and wooly daisy.
-- Grow to a length of 9 inches to 15 inches.
-- Spend 95 percent of their time in underground burrows.
Source: www.desertusa.com
More online: redcliffsdesertreserve.com
E-mail reporter Mark Haynes at mhavnes(at)sltrib.com
(Distributed by Scripps Howard News Service, www.scrippsnews.com.)
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