Wild Bird Test/Surveillance des Migrateurs au Qu?bec

[Snowy Owl]

Wild Bird Test/Surveillance des Migrateurs au Qu?bec <hr style="color: rgb(204, 204, 204);" size="1"> <!-- / icon and title --> <!-- message --> All thanks to Mingus, Remerciement ? Mingus

Le MAPAQ et le MRNF font le point sur la surveillance des oiseaux migrateurs

Qu?bec (Qu?bec), 16 mars 2006 - En raison de la migration des oiseaux sauvages et ? l'approche de la saison de chasse ? l'oie blanche, le minist?re de l'Agriculture, des P?cheries et de l'Alimentation (MAPAQ) et le minist?re des Ressources naturelles et de la Faune (MRNF) font le point sur la surveillance du virus de l'influenza aviaire au Qu?bec et tiennent ? rappeler les activit?s de surveillance mises en place relativement aux oiseaux sauvages ainsi que les consignes de s?curit? ? observer en cas de d?couvertes d'oiseaux morts.

Sp?cimens analys?s
Soulignons qu'? la suite de la r?cente d?couverte d'oies des neiges mortes dans un champ pr?s de Salaberry-de-Valleyfield, le Centre qu?b?cois sur la sant? des animaux sauvages (CQSAS) et le MAPAQ ont proc?d? aux autopsies et aux analyses de sept oiseaux. Les r?sultats obtenus au laboratoire du MAPAQ situ? ? Saint-Hyacinthe ont r?v?l? que ces oiseaux sauvages n'?taient pas atteints du virus de l'influenza aviaire.

Cette d?couverte avait ?t? signal?e au MRNF dans le cadre du Programme de surveillance des mortalit?s chez les oiseaux sauvages mis en place pour d?tecter rapidement tout cas suspect pouvant ?tre li? ? l'influenza aviaire. Ce programme est men? conjointement par le MAPAQ, le MRNF et le CQSAS.

L'?tat des oiseaux migrateurs
Au printemps, de nombreux oiseaux affaiblis par l'hiver ou ?puis?s par leur migration vers le nord sont vuln?rables aux maladies. Il est donc normal que des oiseaux soient trouv?s faibles ou morts. Il s'agit d'un ph?nom?ne naturel. Les sp?cialistes rappellent que les oiseaux sauvages peuvent ?tre victimes de parasites et d'agents pathog?nes. Les maladies et les accidents sont aussi des causes fr?quentes de mortalit? naturelle chez les oiseaux.

Pour ces raisons, il est possible que d'autres mortalit?s d'oiseaux migrateurs soient signal?es ce printemps. Chaque nouvel ?v?nement sera trait? avec la m?me diligence.

Plan de surveillance
Le Qu?bec continuera cette ann?e ? participer au plan de surveillance 2006 du Programme canadien de surveillance des virus de l'influenza A chez les oiseaux sauvages. Ainsi, les laboratoires de pathologie animale du MAPAQ et de la Facult? de m?decine v?t?rinaire de l'Universit? de Montr?al continueront de proc?der ? l'autopsie des oiseaux sauvages qui leur seront soumis.

Recommandations aux observateurs d'oiseaux
Depuis quelques ann?es, on remarque une augmentation du nourrissage des oiseaux en hiver. La proximit? avec les personnes peut ?tre assez ?troite lors de la manipulation des mangeoires ou du nourrissage ? la main. Certains nourrissent aussi les canards et les pigeons dans les parcs ou ? proximit? de leur r?sidence, autant en hiver qu'en ?t?. Ces modes de nourrissage favorisent la transmission d'agents pathog?nes.

Malgr? le fait que les m?sanges et autres volatiles des mangeoires ne soient pas des vecteurs importants de l'influenza, il est pr?f?rable de suivre quelques recommandations de base pour ?viter la transmission de maladies.

?viter de toucher aux oiseaux ou ? leurs d?jections ? mains nues.

Toujours porter des gants ou utiliser des sacs de plastique lors de la manipulation ou du nettoyage des mangeoires ainsi que du nourrissage des oiseaux.

Maintenir les mangeoires propres en tout temps en les nettoyant avec un m?lange d'eau et d'eau de Javel.

Cesser temporairement de nourrir les oiseaux lorsque l'on observe des oiseaux malades ou morts.

Recommandations aux chasseurs
La chasse ? certaines esp?ces d'oiseaux, dont l'oie des neiges, d?butera dans les prochaines semaines. Rappelons aux adeptes des activit?s de chasse et de plein air les mesures habituelles de pr?caution relatives ? la manipulation et ? la conservation de la viande de gibier. D'une part, il faut porter des gants lors de la manipulation, se laver les mains et nettoyer les surfaces et les instruments qui ont ?t? en contact avec les oiseaux sauvages pour ?viter de contaminer d'autres produits de consommation.

D'autre part, le MAPAQ recommande ?galement de conserver la viande de gibier ? une temp?rature s?curitaire qui emp?che la croissance des bact?ries, soit ? -4 degr?s Celsius ou moins, et de faire cuire la viande jusqu'? ce que la temp?rature de cuisson atteigne 77 degr?s Celsius. En effet, faire cuire la viande ad?quatement est un moyen efficace d'?liminer tout virus qui pourrait ?tre pr?sent.

Renseignements
Les d?couvertes de cas importants de mortalit? d'oiseaux sauvages peuvent ?tre signal?es au MRNF au 1 866 248-6936. Les personnes qui ont des questions peuvent t?l?phoner ? Services Qu?bec, au 1 800 363-1363. Elles peuvent ?galement visiter le site Web www.gouv.qc.ca.

Site(s) ext?rieur(s) cit?(s) dans cet article :

Facult? de m?decine v?t?rinaire de l'Universit? de Montr?al
http://www.medvet.umontreal.ca/


Minist?re de l'agriculture des p?cheries et de l'alimentation du Qu?bec (MAPAQ)
http://www.mapaq.gouv.qc.ca


Minist?re D?veloppement durable, de l'Environnement et des Parcs du Qu?bec
http://www.menv.gouv.qc.ca
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[Snowy Owl]

Re: Wild Bird Test/Surveillance des Migrateurs au Qu?bec

Wild Bird Test/Surveillance des Migrateurs au Qu?bec <hr style="color: rgb(204, 204, 204);" size="1"> <!-- / icon and title --> <!-- message --> All thanks to Mingus, Remerciement ? Mingus

MACHINE TRANSLATION

The MAPAQ and the MRNF give a progress report on the monitoring of the migratory birds

Quebec (Quebec), March 16, 2006 - Because of the migration of the wild birds and with the approach of the season of hunting for white goose, the ministry for Agriculture, Fisheries and Food (MAPAQ) and the ministry for the Natural resources and Fauna (MRNF) give a progress report on the monitoring of the virus of the aviary influenza in Quebec and make a point of recalling the activities of monitoring installation relative to the wild birds as well as the security instructions to observe in the event of discovered dead birds.


Analyzed specimens
Let us stress that following the recent discovered one of snow gooses died in a field close of Salaberry-of-Valleyfield, the Qu?b?cois Center on the health of the savage animals (CQSAS) and the MAPAQ carried out the autopsies and the analyses of seven birds. The results obtained at the laboratory of the MAPAQ located at Saint-Hyacinthe revealed that these wild birds were not reached a virus of the aviary influenza.This discovery had been announced to the MRNF within the framework of the Programme of monitoring of mortalities in the wild birds set up to detect any suspect case quickly being able to be related to the aviary influenza. This program is carried out jointly by the MAPAQ, the MRNF and the CQSAS.

The state of the migratory birds
In spring, many birds weakened by the winter or exhausted by their migration towards north are vulnerable to the diseases. It is thus normal that birds are found weak or died. It acts of a natural phenomenon. The specialists point out that the wild birds can be victims of parasites and pathogenic agents. The diseases and the accidents are also frequent causes of natural mortality in the birds.
For these reasons, it is possible that other mortalities of migratory birds are announced this spring. Each new event will be treated with same diligence.

Plan of monitoring
Quebec will continue this year to take part in the plan of monitoring 2006 of the Canadian Programme of monitoring of the viruses of influenza A in the wild birds. Thus, the laboratories of animal pathology of the MAPAQ and the veterinary Faculty of Medicine of the University of Montreal will continue to proceed to the autopsy of the wild birds which will be subjected to them.

Recommendations with the observers of birds
Since a few years, one notices an increase in the nourrissage birds in winter. The proximity with the people can be rather narrow at the time of the handling of the mangers or the nourrissage to the hand. Some nourish also ducks and the pigeons in the parks or near their residence, as much in winter that in summer. These modes of nourrissage support the transmission of pathogenic agents.
In spite of the fact that the titmouses and other birds of the mangers are not important vectors of the influenza, it is preferable to follow some basic recommendations to avoid the transmission of diseases.
To avoid touching with the birds or their dejections with naked hands.
Always to wear gloves or to use plastic bags at the time of the handling or the cleaning of the mangers as well as nourrissage of the birds.
To maintain the mangers clean in any time while cleaning them with a mixture of water and bleach.
To temporarily cease nourishing the birds when one observes sick or dead birds.

Recommendations with the hunters
Hunting with certain species of birds, of which the snow goose, will begin in the next weeks. Let us recall to the followers activities of hunting and full air usual measurements of precaution relating to the handling and the conservation of the game meat. On the one hand, it is necessary to wear gloves at the time of handling, to wash the hands and to clean surfaces and the instruments which were in contact with the wild birds to avoid contaminating other products for human consumption. In addition, the MAPAQ also recommends to preserve the game meat at a sedentary temperature which prevents the growth of the bacteria, maybe to -4 degrees Celsius or less, and to make cook the meat until the temperature of cooking reaches 77 degrees Celsius. Indeed, to make cook the meat adequately is an effective means to eliminate any virus which could be present.
Information

The discoveries of important cases of mortality of wild birds can be announced to the MRNF to the 1 866 248-6936. The people who have questions can telephone in Services Quebec, to the 1 800 363-1363. They can also visit the Web site www.gouv.qc.Ca.


Veterinary Faculty of Medicine of the University of Montreal
http://www.medvet.umontreal.Ca
Ministry for the agriculture of the fisheries and the food of Quebec (MAPAQ)
http://www.mapaq.gouv.qc.Ca
Durable ministry Development, Environment and Parks of Quebec
http://www.menv.gouv.qc.Ca
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[Snowy Owl]

175,000 Great Snow Goose meet at Baie-Du-F?vre

All thanks to Mingus, Remerciement ? Mingus

Le retour du grand bal de l?oie blanche

Des milliers d?oiseaux ont d?j? envahi les plaines inond?es de Baie-du-Febvre et les touristes ne devraient pas tarder ? affluer pour observer leur magnifique migration printani?re. Photo Rosaire Lemay, Le Courrier Sud Le tapis blanc de l?hiver a fait place au tapis blanc des oies. Avec le retour des beaux jours, les magnifiques migratrices sont de retour ? Baie-du-Febvre, amenant leur lot d?envol?es majestueuses et de touristes heureux que ces bruyants oiseaux sonnent le glas des jours de froid.

Elles sont d?j? 175 000 ? Baie-du-Febvre, dans les plaines inond?es de cette capitale de l?oie. Elles annoncent avec deux semaines d?avance la fin d?un hiver qui n?a ?t? que l?ombre de lui-m?me.



?Cette ann?e, c?est la migration en masse la plus h?tive qu?on a vu. Les oies sont l? depuis une semaine et elles sont nombreuses?, se r?jouit Guylaine Fr?chette, directrice g?n?rale de la Corporation de d?veloppement ?conomique de Baie-du-Febvre. La nouvelle est effectivement bonne pour la municipalit? puisque l?an dernier une vague de froid avait rendu les conditions tr?s difficiles pour l??v?nement Regard sur l?oie blanche, d?courageant plusieurs touristes.

Cette ann?e, l??v?nement a ?t? repouss? d?une semaine pour s?assurer d?une temp?rature cl?mente. Sa deuxi?me fin de semaine co?ncide aussi avec la f?te de P?ques ce qui devrait contribuer au succ?s des activit?s. ?Les exposants sont heureux parce que ?a signifie plus de ventes?, mentionne la responsable de l??v?nement.

L?arriv?e h?tive des oies devrait aussi permettre aux responsables locaux de v?rifier l?influence de la chasse sur la fr?quentation des oies. Une certaine dispersion des oiseaux avait en effet ?t? remarqu?e au cours des derni?res ann?es. ?La chasse s?ouvre ce samedi 1er avril. Comme les oiseaux sont l? depuis une semaine, on va pouvoir observer s?ils changent leurs habitudes?, confirme Mme Fr?chette, dont le groupe a demand? l?an dernier la fin de la chasse printani?re dans le secteur.


Des questions sur la grippe aviaire
Pour les touristes et les m?dias, la principale inqui?tude cette ann?e s?est manifest?e sur la question de la grippe aviaire. Si cette ann?e, les oiseaux migrateurs sont au c?ur des pires sc?narios hollywoodiens, la r?alit? est beaucoup moins spectaculaire et beaucoup plus rassurante.

?Il n?y a pas de danger. Les oies blanches ont pass? l?hiver au Maryland o? aucun cas de grippe aviaire n?a ?t? d?tect?. En plus, leur corridor de migration est nord sud et il est sans risques de contagion. Ce sont les oiseaux qui migrent d?est en ouest qui peuvent ?tre contamin?s, pas les oies?, assure Mme Fr?chette.

[Snowy Owl]

Re: Wild Bird Test/Surveillance des Migrateurs au Qu?bec

Please read the following post made in September 2005 concerning the same lake.

Posted by Snowy Owl on September 24th 2005

Possible epidemic of botulism among ducks of Lake St-Pierre
Friday 23 septembre 2005, 14 h 01 .


Lac Saint-Pierre
Environnement Canada report a unhabitual presence of death ducks sicks, or unable to flyr over St-Pierre Lake. A hundred of them have been found death in Baie du Fevre area.


F?d?ral dep. ask therefore the hunters to not shoot nor eat those sicks ducks or if they are too skinny.

Canadian Services of wildlife and the Cooperative centre at the Veterinian faculty of St-Hyacinthe are presently doing some analysis to determiend these unhabitual causes of deaths.

It could be botulism, a disease cause by a bacteria that producea neurotoxine.

Birds affected by botulism, develop a progressive paralysis and loose bit by bit the control of their muscles. Deatn by paralysis or drowing happen then.

Botulism is not an exceptional disease. It cause a certain amount of deaths in ducks frequently. The numbers of affected ducks is what is exceptional this year.

Environnement Canada say's that ducks hunting season will start today. All hunters witnessing an abnormal numbers of sick or deaths ducks are invited to communicate at 1 800 463-4311 ou au (418) 648-3492.

http://www.radio-canada.ca/regions/...4-canards.shtml

[Snowy Owl]

Wildlife experts hope to expand surveillance for H5N1 in migratory birds

All thanks to Alaska Denise

Wildlife experts hope to expand surveillance for H5N1 in migratory birds

http://www.mytelus.com/news/article....icleID=2218627

<table border="0" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" width="100%"><tbody><tr><td>Tuesday, Apr 04, 2006

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.TORONTO (CP) - Canadian wildlife experts hope to significantly expand surveillance of migratory birds this year, looking for evidence of whether the worrisome Asian H5N1 avian flu virus has found its way to this continent.


A blueprint for a surveillance plan, which still requires government funding approval, would see twice the number of live birds tested for avian flu viruses compared with last year, with a major focus on birds travelling on flyways from the eastern Arctic to Central and Eastern Canada.

"Due diligence would require that we should be vigilant about the potential arrival of this virus in North America," said Dr. Ted Leighton, executive director of the Canadian Co-operative Wildlife Health Centre, the lead partner on the surveillance program. "In my opinion, (it's) far more likely by human agency than by wild birds, but one cannot discount the possibility" that the virus could reach Canada that way, said Leighton, who also teaches at the University of Saskatchewan.


While U.S. political figures have deemed it virtually inevitable that migratory birds will bring the virus to North America, avian flu experts are not so certain. Long-term study suggests there is little intermingling of the viruses carried by birds that travel the Eurasian flyways and those that migrate in the Americas.

But H5N1 has defied flu dogma before, and at this point few experts would be willing to be definitive about what it can and cannot do.

"It's going to be anybody's guess," Dr. David Halvorson, an avian influenza specialist at the University of Minnesota, said of what bird surveillance in North America will turn up this year.

"This thing has been in China and Southeast Asia for 10 years and nothing has shown up here in those 10 years, so I don't think it's any more or less likely to happen this year," he said.
"But that doesn't mean it won't happen. We have no way of knowing."

The Canadian plan is designed to complement a vastly more ambitious American wild bird surveillance program, which aims to collect samples from between 75,000 and 100,000 migratory birds.

The U.S. program is expected to have a heavy focus on large breeding grounds in Alaska where birds that travel on Eurasian flyways are known to intersect with birds from North and South America.

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"In terms of contributing to continental alertness, a focus by Canada on the eastern Arctic and transatlantic (flyways) probably makes more sense that duplicating, more or less, what the Americans might be doing in the northwest," Leighton said.

"So the direction of planning right now is to try to make the coverage of the eastern Arctic and the East Coast and the east of centre parts of the country the main focus."

Last year's surveillance program in Canada took samples from almost 4,600 wild ducks across Canada. That survey found a number of H5 avian flu viruses, including H5N1s, but they were from the American family of the viruses, and were not the dangerous form that has emerged from Asia.
This year the plan would see about double the number of live birds sampled and would add a dead bird surveillance component as well. Dead birds picked up by the program will be tested for avian flu viruses; if virus is found, autopsies will be done to determine whether the virus or something else was the cause of death, Leighton said.

On the live bird side, the intent is to expand beyond ducks to other species - shore birds like the Arctic tern and the semipalmated sandpiper, found in the marshes along the Bay of Fundy. Wild geese are also on the agenda.

"There's a paucity of information about wild geese and we need to start building up our information of what wild geese might be carrying," Leighton said.

While some efforts will be made to take samples from nesting birds in the spring, most of the work will take place in the late summer and fall, when juvenile birds - those most vulnerable to avian influenza viruses - are getting ready to fly south.

"There are two reasons to sample in the fall. One is we can get our hands on the birds, and the second is if they're bringing something nasty from the North, that's when we'll find it," Leighton said.

Halvorson suggested those who authorize these types of surveillance programs need plans of their own - for how to handle the news should the Asian H5N1 virus be detected. "When it comes to surveillance, people say: 'Well, before you start surveillance you have to know what you're going to do if you find something positive,' " he said from Minneapolis. "So here you go, we're going to run all over the northern half of this hemisphere searching for this virus and then we're going to find it. And then what are we going to do?"