Goat

• Since 1996, a deadly neurodegenerative disease of cervids (deer, elk, moose, caribou, reindeer) has been spreading across Canada.
• On Jan. 31, 2024, chronic wasting disease (CWD) was detected for the first time in British Columbia in two deer.

Disease-causing proteins

• The protein is similar to other normal proteins in the body, except it’s abnormally shaped.
• The abnormal folding of these disease-causing prion proteins — which are found most abundantly in the brain — leads to brain damage that makes the brain appear like a sponge.
• Other TSEs include Creutzfeldt-Jakob disease in people, bovine-spongiform encephalopathy (“mad cow disease”) in cows, and scrapie in sheep and goats.
• This means that early detection and management is critical for reducing the impact of this disease.

British Columbia’s preparations

• has established a surveillance program to detect CWD as soon as possible.
• Our research suggests that a robust approach to such a difficult disease will require rapid, collective and collaborative action across sectors.
• This approach must involve wildlife managers, hunters, local communities, First Nations and researchers to integrate a number of approaches.

Surveillance and management

• Many CWD management programs rely on removing infected animals from the landscape.
• While it is mandatory to submit the heads from hunted cervids in select management units in B.C., in most regions, submission is voluntary.
• Hunters can participate in CWD management and surveillance by removing the head of the animal and submitting it to a local testing station or freezer for CWD testing.

• The public can also participate in CWD surveillance and management by reporting signs of sick animals and vehicle collisions with cervids.
• This is why testing cervids that have been killed by vehicles is also a critical component of CWD surveillance and management.

Curbing the spread

• CWD can spread between animals through contact with bodily fluids.
• Legal restrictions on carcass transport and the use of urine-based scents in hunting can also reduce the unintentional spread of CWD.
• Research has shown that community-focused communication and engagement are essential for the success of CWD management efforts.
• In the days ahead, fostering open dialogue and collaboration will be paramount towards an effective and sustainable effort against CWD.

Kaylee Byers is the Regional Deputy Director of the British Columbia Node of the Canadian Wildlife Health Cooperative and collaborates with the Wildlife Health Program, which leads Chronic Wasting Disease surveillance in British Columbia. Sarah Robinson does not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organisation that would benefit from this article, and has disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment.

• Washington, D.C., Jan. 31, 2024 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- The U.S. Department of Agriculture’s (USDA) Food Safety and Inspection Service (FSIS) today announced its key achievements in 2023 that protected public health through food safety and strengthened the food supply chain.
• The goal was to increase access to regulatory information and best practices to maintain and enhance food safety and strengthen the food supply chain.
• In partnership with USDA’s Food and Nutrition Service, FSIS incorporated culturally appropriate food safety information in boxes delivered through the Food Distribution Program in Tribal communities.
• FSIS protected public health by conducting ante-mortem and post-mortem inspection of 161 million head of livestock and 9.8 billion poultry carcasses.

• It was a period that drove great change in the evolution of human society.
• Around 8,500 years ago, members of farming communities crossed the Aegean Sea, bringing techniques similar to those used in Anatolia to Greece and the Balkans.

The Neolithic age reaches the Iberian Peninsula

• Agriculture first appeared on the Iberian Peninsula around 7,600 years ago.
• On the Iberian peninsula, the practices that Neolithic populations brought with them were similar to those that had appeared a few centuries earlier in Italy.
• In a relatively short time, these populations came to occupy the entire Iberian peninsula, where they underwent rapid cultural evolution.

Crossing the Gibraltar strait

• These groups did not seem to have pottery, at least not those in the northern Maghreb.
• There, the hunter gatherer population did seem to have pottery, specifically in areas such as present day Mali, Niger and Sudan.
• Agricultural innovations included cereal crops (wheat and barley) and legumes (beans, peas and lentils), as well as rearing sheep and goats.

How innovation spread

• Such developments raise the question of whether these innovations could have spread from the Iberian peninsula.
• The study of human remains dating from this period, discovered in Kaf Taht el-Ghar, near Tétouan in Morocco, have provided answers.
• This appears to be evidence of the local population simply adopting neolithic practices without assimilating into a new society.

Following the ceramic trail

• These had mottled decorations and, often, rope impressions similar to those seen in the Sahara.
• They seem to be descended from Neolithic populations, not from Anatolia but from the Mediterranean Levant (Middle East).
• The gene pool of the region’s present population is a union – formed over millions of years – of three continents.

Rafael M Martínez Sánchez no recibe salario, ni ejerce labores de consultoría, ni posee acciones, ni recibe financiación de ninguna compañía u organización que pueda obtener beneficio de este artículo, y ha declarado carecer de vínculos relevantes más allá del cargo académico citado.

• The rescued dogs were transported to HSMO's Macklind headquarters in St. Louis to receive health evaluations and emergency veterinary treatment.
• The emergency rescue was prompted by calls on Friday morning from concerned residents and the Stone County Sheriff's office.
• Members of the Animal Cruelty Task Force deployed immediately due to the animals' reported conditions and the dangerous cold.
• To report an animal that may be in danger or is suffering from neglect or abuse, call the local police and the Humane Society of Missouri's Animal Cruelty Hotline at 314-647-4400.