- Page 1
- Page 2 - Page 3 - Page 4 - Page 5 - Page 6 - Page 7 - Page 8 - Page 9 - Page 10 - Page 11 - Page 12 - Page 13 - Page 14 - Page 15 - Page 16 - Page 17 - Page 18 - Page 19 - Page 20 - Page 21 - Page 22 - Page 23 - Page 24 - Page 25 - Page 26 - Page 27 - Page 28 - Page 29 - Page 30 - Page 31 - Page 32 - Page 33 - Page 34 - Page 35 - Page 36 - Page 37 - Page 38 - Page 39 - Page 40 - Page 41 - Page 42 - Page 43 - Page 44 - Page 45 - Page 46 - Page 47 - Page 48 - Page 49 - Page 50 - Page 51 - Page 52 - Page 53 - Page 54 - Page 55 - Page 56 - Page 57 - Page 58 - Page 59 - Page 60 - Page 61 - Page 62 - Page 63 - Page 64 - Page 65 - Page 66 - Page 67 - Page 68 - Page 69 - Page 70 - Page 71 - Page 72 - Page 73 - Page 74 - Page 75 - Page 76 - Page 77 - Page 78 - Page 79 - Page 80 - Page 81 - Page 82 - Page 83 - Page 84 - Page 85 - Page 86 - Page 87 - Page 88 - Page 89 - Page 90 - Page 91 - Page 92 - Page 93 - Page 94 - Page 95 - Page 96 - Flash version © UniFlip.com |
September 6, 2013
The Dispatch/Maryland Coast Dispatch
Page 9
. . Multiple Dolphin Fatalities Reported
FROM PAGE 8 can be easily deployed to stop the spread of the virus in wild, migratory dolphin populations. The only cure is for the animal’s natural ability to build antibodies to the virus. Morbillivirus causes secondary viral and bacterial diseases, and during necropsies moderate to severe ammonia is being found in dolphins suffering from the virus causing hardened lung tissue. “That is a very common finding within all these animals, so they are not considered as good candidates for rehabilitation,” she said. “Once lung tissue like that with ammonia starts getting really hard, almost like scar tissue, there is no way you can reverse that.” On Friday, another dolphin washed ashore on 49th Street. According to Dittmar, the dolphin had already died at sea and had extensive shark damage. It is unknown what the cause of death was. “It was in an advanced stage of decomposition, so we could not de-termine the cause of death,” she said. “It was a bottlenose and at this point NOAA is considering any bottlenose dolphin to be associated with this event until proven otherwise.” Morbillivirus is the same virus that caused over 740 marine mammals to strand in a similar event back in 1987 and 1988, the last time a massive die-off of bottlenose dolphins along the Atlantic Coast like this was observed. “We are anticipating seeing more
dolphins turn up. Unfortunately, it is a natural event that we can’t stop,” Dittmar said. “We just need to gather as much information from it as we can to figure out exactly what population it is impacting. That helps NOAA with all their sampling and all their effort in investigating this.” The two dolphin strandings last week were the only cases brought before the public’s eye, but Dittmar reported more dolphin washed ashore in Ocean City and on Assateague over the weekend. Dittmar explained, a lot of the cases are not reported because the Ocean City Department of Public Works operates closely with the DNR, and when Public Works comes across a carcass it is removed from the beach and DNR is immediately called to conduct a necropsy. Last week, DNR reported thus far this summer, there have been 291 cases of dead or dying dolphins recovered or rescued in the mid-Atlantic region compared to a historic mean of 26. Also, 32 dolphins tested from all five states in the affected region, including Maryland, are either suspected or confirmed positive for moribillivirus. In 11 samples, genetic sequencing has confirmed the findings. Veterinary pathologists have also looked at eight animals and determined that detected changes in dolphin tissues are consistent with the morbillivirus infection. Additional testing is being conducted on other animals.
Happy Hour 3-6 p.m.
MONDAY-THURSDAY
Duck Parties Start 4-9 p.m.
Friday 9/6 Aaron Howell Trio Saturday 9/7 King’s Ransom Sunday 9/8 Bird Dog & The Road Kings Wednesday 9/11 Rock The Dock With DJ Batman Thursday 9/12 Tranzfusion
www.mrducksbar.com 311 Talbot Street • 410-289-9125 Open 7 Days A Week At 11 a.m.
|