Billings Gazette, Nov. 18, 2013: Jared Jansen [...] said, he and his father, Mike, have seen up to 100 dead deer at a time along the Musselshell River. [...] die-offs have whittled the once hardy deer herds down to a handful [...] “I’ve only seen three does this year. [...] It used to be when I was haying along the river, early in the morning, I’d see 200 to 500 head in the meadows.” [...] The names sound like something out of a science fiction thriller: epizootic hemorrhagic disease, sylvatic plague, bluetongue, brucellosis, chytrid, chronic wasting disease [...] Yet the all-too-real afflictions threaten to reduce the populations of wild mammals, birds and reptiles across Montana, Wyoming and other regions [...] “There is a general consensus among scientists that we are seeing more disease,” said Jonathan Sleeman, director of the U.S. Geological Survey’s National Wildlife Health Center in Madison, Wis. [...] so many diseases afflicting such a wide variety of animals [...] A study is being conducted in northwestern Montana to examine the possible causes [...]

Independent Record, Oct. 31, 2013: What’s happening to all the moose? Moose in the northern United States are dying in what scientists say may be the start of climate shock [...] The die-off is most dire in Minnesota, where ecologists say moose could be gone within a decade. [...] Concerns have prompted a 10-year study of moose in Montana [...] It’s not just in Montana, either. [...] An aerial survey of moose in northeastern Minnesota earlier this year showed a 52 percent drop in population since 2010, which prompted the Minnesota Department of Natural Resources to completely call off the 2013 moose hunting season [...] In various regions of British Columbia [Canada], populations have declined anywhere from 20 to 70 percent in recent years. [...] In Montana [they're going] to monitor adult female survival, pregnancy and calf-survival rates. [...] They’re also monitoring the number of ticks on the moose, and use a portable ultrasound machine to measure the layer of rump fat. [...] The study also calls for sampling moose from across the state for genetics and parasites. [...]

Nick DeCesare, the Missoula-based lead biologist on the Montana study: “About one-third of our animals have no fat on their rump; that was in the winter, so that’s a pretty big deal  [...] Are lean animals dying, not giving birth to calves or could they just be leaner this year and are doing fine next year?” [...] Three of the [36] collared moose already have died; one was killed by a wolf and the other two were in poor health. [...] “Having such a small sample to start with, then having three die, is a big deal.”

Dennis Murray, a population ecologist at Trent University in Canada: “The fact that you’ve got different proximate causes killing off the moose suggests there’s an underlying ultimate cause.”

Watch Montana Fish, Wildlife, & Park veterinarian Jennifer Ramsey explain some of the problems here

http://enenews.com/die-offs-of-mammals-birds-reptiles-in-western-u-s-so-many-diseases-afflicting-such-a-wide-variety-of-animals-names-like-something-out-of-a-sci-fi-thriller-epizootic-hemorrhagic-disease