Reporting Sick or Dying Amphibians and Reptiles

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Bryan Hamilton
Posts: 1234
Joined: June 10th, 2010, 9:49 pm

Reporting Sick or Dying Amphibians and Reptiles

Post by Bryan Hamilton »

PARC Friends and Colleagues:

The PARC Disease Task Team has created a system for people in the U.S. and Canada to report an incident of sick, dying, or multiple dead amphibians or reptiles. Simply send an email to: [email protected]

IMPORTANT: Include in your email:
Your name and e-mail address (for any follow-up questions)
What you saw
Where it was (city, state and other location information, e.g., name of park or forest)
What types of animals were involved (species [if you are sure of the identification] and life stages observed [eggs, larvae, subadults, adults])
Is it ongoing (some sick-looking animals that are alive? or only dead or decayed animals observed?)
Any photos or other relevant information
The State or Provincial contacts for herpetofaunal diseases will be alerted, and they may contact you further for additional information. Following the report, the managing agency will make a decision on whether or not a follow-up action is needed. This system will help us to facilitate early detection and rapid response actions, where possible. It will also aid our understanding of the scope and severity of emerging infectious diseases.

Read more about amphibian and reptile diseases and efforts to help them here, and specific information regarding the salamander fungus and associated efforts can be found here.

Thank you in advance for your help to keep our herps healthy!

PARC Disease Task Team
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Kelly Mc
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Joined: October 18th, 2011, 1:03 pm

Re: Reporting Sick or Dying Amphibians and Reptiles

Post by Kelly Mc »

Good idea to post this Bryan.

Photographs of sick, dying and dead in biome (not dors) would be good to include full body shots - ventral, lateral and dorsum. Its tempting to isolate on obvious lesions and swellings, but flesh value and nuances of all external features are important.

Short video of aberrant locomotive manner can also cue to etiology esp of neurological or brain involvement of pathogenic nasties.
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