Document text
SUNNY Temp: 51 °F Wind: CLM at 0 mph Thursday, November 21, 2002 SECTIONS Home Page Local News Sports Business Obituaries Life Opinion - Politics AP News Weather Classified Archives Site Map EXTRA HomeLife Magazine W3 Magazine Jobs @ Mail Tribune Tempo A & E Oregon CarZone Wellness Connection Real Estate Newspaper in Education Prime Times Outdoor Journal Personals Movie Times TV Times E The People CLASSIFIEDS Find a Car Find a Home Find a Job Find Everything E SOUTHERN OREGON Automotive Communities Entertainment Publications Recreation Calendar ABOUT US FAQ What's New Advertise Home Delivery Classified Ad Contact Us Media Kit Email Story to a Friend September 18, 2002 Oregon fish and wildlife biologist Mark Vargas will send this dead red-tailed hawk to be tested for the West Nile virus. Mail Tribune / Bob Pennell Hawk will be tested for virus Authorities believe West Nile is the least likely reason it died By MARK FREEMAN Mail Tribune An emaciated red-tailed hawk that died Monday near Central Point will be tested this week to see if it is the first known Oregon animal to die from the West Nile virus. State health officials, however, believe it is unlikely that the hawk died from the virus, which has spread to 31 states and killed 71 people this year but has yet to be detected in wildlife along the West Coast. "There are a lot of reasons for a hawk to die, and West Nile is probably the least likely at this point," said Emilio DeBess, the state public health veterinarian heading Oregon’s West Nile Surveillance Project. "We know that it’s coming, and we know that it’s going to show up, but I would be surprised if this was (the virus)." But the hawk, found Monday afternoon at an Old Stage Road vineyard, was packed in ice and shipped Tuesday to Oregon State University for a brain test looking for the virus, which health officials expect to surface in wildlife in California or Washington before it reaches Oregon. DeBess said the West Nile detection efforts have led to the testing of 26 birds and other animals in Oregon, but the hawk will be the first Jackson County specimen. Mark Vargas, an Oregon Department of Fish and Wildlife biologist in Central Point, said finding a dead hawk would not raise many eyebrows under normal circumstances, but the rapid spreading of the virus elsewhere in the country makes all unexplained deaths of raptors suspicious. "We don’t know if this is ‘Chicken Little Syndrome’ or if it’s actually happening," said Vargas. "But we’re going to find out." Colorado on Monday became the 31st state to register a known infection in a human of the West Nile virus, which is spread by mosquitoes that draw blood from infected animals. To date, 1,469 people have been infected by the disease, with about 5 percent dying, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. The 3-year-old hawk had been a regular visitor to Old Stage Vineyards, where owners Charles Abar and Beverly Cone often watched it hunt mice in a hay field adjacent to their eight acres of grapes. But it appeared sickly in recent days, and Abar saw it lying in their driveway Monday afternoon. "It was a great, huge, beautiful bird," Abar said. "But it didn’t want to defend itself much from our dogs. Obviously, there was something going wrong here." Cone then telephoned Vargas to report the incident. By the time Vargas arrived at the vineyard in late afternoon, the bird had died. The bird had no visible wounds or reasons for its death, Vargas said. Other viruses, a bacterial infection or eating a poisoned rodent are more likely causes for the bird’s death than the West Nile virus, he said. For the West Nile virus test to be reliable, the animal must be retrieved within 24 hours of its death, and the test must begin within two days of the death. The hawk carcass’ excellent condition makes it a specimen that is "about as good as you can hope for" in the test, said Rocky Baker from the Oregon State University’s Veterinary Diagnostics Lab, which will conduct the tests. The test results likely will be available by early next week, Baker said. Another dead red-tailed hawk was discovered and turned over to the ODFW on Monday, but its body was too decomposed for testing, Vargas said. Reach reporter Mark Freeman at 776-4470, or e-mail [email protected] Printer Friendly Version Email Story to a Friend Subscribe Archive: Click to Search Mail Tribune Home Local News | Sports | Business | Obituaries | Life Opinion - Politics | AP News | Archives | Site Map E Southern Oregon | Classified Copyright 1997-2002 Mail Tribune. All rights reserved. Privacy Policy webmaster feedback A D V E R T I S E R S