Category: Research Results

On the 5th April 2014 the badger working group of Brabant held a meeting about badgers. A variety of people who submit dead badgers to the DWHC for post-mortem investigation were present as well as members of the badger working groups of Drenthe, Utrecht and Limburg, and representatives of the Animal Ambulance,

Evidence of antibodies to Schmallenberg virus in deer: After calling on the public to be alert to signs of infection with Schmallenberg virus is wild animals DWHC presents results from investigations in 2012.

In 2012 Usutu-virus has not been found in blackbirds (Turdus merula) and song thrushes (Turdus philomelos) in the Netherlands after extensive post-mortem investigations.

Post-mortem investigation showed that the fox, an adult male, had probably died as a result of bacterial meningitis.

In 2011 five wildlife carcasses (a female hare, male crow, male lesser-black-backed gull, and juvenile male and female buzzards) found within 300m of each other were submitted to the DWHC for post-mortem investigation.

In May 2010 a dead adult male stock dove (Columba oenas) was found in the Dutch town of Hilversum and the fresh cadaver was submitted to the DWHC for post-mortem investigation.

In June 2011 an adult male great crested grebe (Podiceps cristatus) found in the Dutch coastal town of Muidenberg, was submitted to the DWHC for post-mortem investigation.

Avian malaria is caused by different sorts of the plasmodium parasite which differ to those that affect man. Infected birds may die suddenly or otherwise show general malaise with fever or hypothermia (sitting with puffed up feathers), respiratory difficulty, and dehydration. Avian malaria is spread by mosquitoes,

This project will involve the retrospective analysis of stored serum and tissue samples from deer previously submitted to the DWHC for post-mortem investigation, for the presence of infection with the bacterial cause of Q-fever, Coxiella burnetti.

In February 2011 an adult female hare which was in poor condition and had lost its flight reflex was euthanised and submitted to the DWHC for post-mortem investigation. The hare died from septicemia (blood poisoning) secondary to the severe, systemic infection with Y. pseudotuberculosis.