COPIED AND PASTED FROM HERPDIGEST:



FOR FULL ALERT WITH INSTRUCTIONS ON HOW TO HELP AND FURTHER INFORMATION (THERE IS A 14 PAGE PDF FILE AND SPECIMEN HISTORY FORM CONTACT THE APPROPRIATE STATE REPS LISTED BELOW.



United States Department of the Interior FISH AND WILDLIFE SERVICE Pennsylvania Field Office

315 South Allen Street, Suite 322

State College, Pennsylvania 16801-4850



ADVISORY BULLETIN

August 5, 2009



Over the past few months, the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service has received several reports of dead and apparently diseased bog turtles from New York, Massachusetts, New Jersey and Pennsylvania. The number of bog turtles found dead in their wetland habitat (2 to 4 dead turtles in each of four wetlands in NY and MA) exceeds that which is typically reported.

In some cases, dead bog turtles have been found entirely intact, with no obvious cause of death.

On several live bog turtles, a grayish or whitish substance and/or discoloration has been documented on the skin of the head, neck and limbs, as well as on the claws. In some cases, these appear as skin lesions. Scute sloughing and loss of claws and toes has also been observed.

Based on data collected at a Massachusetts site, the symptoms appear to worsen over time.

At this time, the causative agent(s) of the observed symptoms has not been identified. However, considering the risk this poses to bog turtles and potentially to bog turtle populations, the Service is taking this matter seriously, and is seeking the voluntary cooperation of bog turtle surveyors and researchers in implementing the following guidance, effective immediately:



1. Collect, label, and ship fresh-dead bog turtles1 to the U.S. Geological Survey, National Wildlife Health Center in accordance with the attached Specimen History Form and Shipping Instructions. Also, ship fresh-dead turtles of any species from known bog turtle sites according to the same protocol. Do not send any species of turtle that appears to have no retained internal organs.



a. The collection and shipment of dead bog turtles is authorized under the Endangered Species Act, pursuant to the “Emergency Provisions” of Section 6 Cooperative Agreements the Service has in place with the various State wildlife agencies in the northern range of the bog turtle. Under these emergency provisions, "Any employee or agent of the Division who is designated by that Agency for such purposes, may, when acting in the course of his official duties, take federally-listed Endangered and Threatened fish or wildlife species without a permit if such action is necessary to: (1) aid a sick, injured, or orphaned specimen; or (2) dispose of a dead specimen; or (3) salvage a dead specimen which may be useful for scientific study . . ."



1 This refers to fresh-dead turtles whose cause of death is unknown (e.g., do not ship road-killed turtles). Partiallyscavenged, fresh-dead turtles should be sent in for analysis, because one cannot confidently conclude that predationwas the actual cause of death (i.e., the cause of death is unknown).



b. Complete the attached Turtle Data Sheet (or a similar data sheet that records the same information) and USGS Specimen History Form. When the specimen is shipped, provide an email notification and attach copies of both completed forms

to: the Service’s Pennsylvania Field Office (Carole Copeyon), the Service’s Regional Office (Alison Whitlock), the Fish and Wildlife Service point-of-contact in your State, and the appropriate State agency point-of-contact2.



c. Fresh-dead specimens should be shipped for overnight delivery on a Monday, Tuesday or Wednesday to ensure they will arrive during the same work week at the National Wildlife Health Center. If a specimen is shipped on Thursday or Friday, it will not arrive and be unpacked until the following week, well after the packing ice has melted. Therefore, fresh-dead animals collected Thursday- Sunday should be frozen until Monday shipping. Alternatively, if shipping late in the week is warranted, contact the National Wildlife Health Center Field Investigation Team to arrange for a special Saturday delivery. See shipping instructions for details. Be sure to include both the Turtle Data Sheet and USGS Specimen History Form with your shipment to the National Wildlife Health Center.



d. Unless otherwise specified, the National Wildlife Health Center will ship bog turtle specimens originating from Massachusetts, Connecticut, and New York to the American Museum of Natural History in New York, and will ship specimens originating from Pennsylvania, Maryland, New Jersey and Delaware to the Smithsonian Institution in Washington, D.C.



2. Collect, label and ship other bog turtle carcasses and shells (i.e., the ones that are NOT fresh-dead) to your State wildlife agency, in accordance with State Scientific Collector’s Permit conditions. Complete the attached Specimen History Form and Turtle Data Sheet and provide copies to the Service’s Pennsylvania Field Office and the appropriate State wildlife agency biologist (see list).



3. Provide information to the Service’s Pennsylvania Field Office regarding:

a. Any dead, diseased or apparently unhealthy bog turtles you have found; b. Any dead, diseased or apparently unhealthy turtles of any species at known bog turtle sites; and c. Multiple instances of mortality or disease of any turtle species in the same year at any wetland site.

To the best of your recollection, please indicate the year in which these turtles were found, as well as the number, condition (live, fresh-dead, shell only, shell with flesh, etc.), location (state, county, lat/long), and symptoms.



4. At bog turtle sites, carefully examine live bog turtles (as well as turtles of other

species) found during your routine field surveys and/or research activities. Document

2 Contact information for USFWS and State agency biologists is attached to this bulletin.

2

any abnormalities3 on bog turtles via close-up photographs and complete the attached Turtle Data Sheet. Submit the data sheet and photographs to the Service’s Pennsylvania Field Office. If there is a telemetry study occurring at the site where the affected bog turtle was found, we recommend placing a transmitter on the affected

turtle(s) and 1) photo-documenting the affected area(s) of the body every 1 to 4 weeks, and 2) collecting relevant health data (e.g., body weight, notes regarding any nasal or eye discharges, etc.). Similar information should be collected and reported on other turtle species that appear to be diseased at known bog turtle sites. Please note whether the site is flooded and provides little in the way of basking sites for turtles.



5. At this time, we are NOT recommending that live, affected bog turtles be removed from their wetland habitat.



6. Do NOT euthanize any bog turtles.



7. Do NOT collect tissue samples from live bog turtles without specific Fish and Wildlife Service authorization.



8. Disinfect equipment and clothing to reduce the risk of spreading the agent(s) responsible for the observed mortality and disease. See the attached Disinfection Protocol for Bog Turtle Field Research, Surveys and Monitoring (August 2009).

Field biologists play a vital role in the early detection of incidents of wildlife mortality and disease. The Service extends its sincere thanks for your cooperation in implementing this guidance.



3 In this case, “abnormalities” refers to those that appear to be related to disease or infection. However, also note instances of missing toes, whether they are healed over or not.



3

U.S. FISH AND WILDLIFE SERVICE

(revised 07/15/09)

Delaware and Maryland

Julie Slacum

U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service

Chesapeake Bay Field Office

177 Admiral Cochrane Drive

Annapolis, MD 21401

410-573-4517



julie_thompson@fws.gov

New Jersey

Wendy Walsh

U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service

New Jersey Field Office

927 North Main Street, Bldg. D

Pleasantville, NJ 08232

609-383-3938, ext. 48

wendy_walsh@fws.gov



Connecticut and Massachusetts

Anthony Tur

U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service

New England Field Office

70 Commercial Street, Suite 300

Concord, New Hampshire 03301

603-223-2541, ext 24

anthony_tur@fws.gov



New York

Robyn Niver

U.S. Fish & Wildlife Service

New York Field Office

3817 Luker Rd.

Cortland, NY 13045

607-753-9334

robyn_niver@fws.gov



Pennsylvania

Carole Copeyon

U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service

Pennsylvania Field Office

315 South Allen Street, Suite 322

State College, PA 16801

814-234-4090, ext. 232

carole_copeyon@fws.gov

Regional Office



Alison L. Whitlock

Division of Wildlife & Sport Fish Restoration USFWS Northeast Regional Office 300 Westgate Center Drive Hadley, MA 01035

413-253-8536

alison_whitlock@fws.gov



4

STATE AGENCIES

(revised 08/05/09)

Connecticut

Julie Victoria

Connecticut Dept of Environmental Protection Wildlife Division Franklin Swamp WMA

391 Route 32

N. Franklin, CT 06254

860-642-7239

julie.victoria@po.state.ct.us



New Jersey

Brian Zarate

New Jersey Division of Fish and Wildlife Endangered and Nongame Species Program

1 Van Syckles Road

Clinton, NJ 08809

908-638-6482

brian.zarate@dep.state.nj.us



Delaware

Holly Niederriter

Nongame & Endangered Species Program

Delaware Division of Fish and Wildlife

4876 Hay Point Landing Road

Smyrna, DE 19977

302-653-2880, ext 119

Holly.Niederriter@state.de.us



New York

Peter Nye

Endangered Species Unit

NYSDEC Division of Fish, Wildlife

& Marine Resources

625 Broadway

Albany, NY 12233-4754

518-402-8859

penye@gw.dec.state.ny.us



Maryland

Scott Smith

Maryland Department of Natural Resources Wildlife & Heritage Division

909 Main Street

Wye Mills, MD 21679

410-827-8612, ext 103

sasmith@dnr.state.md.us



Pennsylvania

Chris Urban

Pennsylvania Fish and Boat Commission

Wildlife Diversity Section

450 Robinson Lane

Bellefonte, PA 16823

814-359-5113

curban@state.pa.us



Massachusetts

Lori Erb

Division of Fisheries & Wildlife

North Drive

Westborough, MA 01581

508-389-6357

Lori.Erb@state.ma.us



(This message was sent to jcrickmer1@austin.rr.com)
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"As hard as I've tried, just can't NOT do this"

John Crickmer

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