Annual Performance Report, Statewide Wildlife Research: Diseases and Parasites

Annual report on specimens collected and analyzed in the period between July 1989 and June 1990 in BICY. Examinations were conducted on 95 specimens representing 17 species of diseased and normal mammals and birds. An epizootic of canine distemper occurred in Citrus County in which over 50 gray foxes (Urocyon cinereoargenteus) are known to have died. In addition, a number of individual cases or diseased birds and mammals from scattered localities was studied. Of special interest -were cases of dracunculiasis in two Florida panthers (Felis concolor corSi), demodectic mange in a black bear (Ursus americanus), malaria in a great blue heron (Ardea herodias), Babesia infection in a white-tailed deer (Odocoileus virginianus) and periodontal disease in a white-tailed deer. Serologic tests were conducted on 34 black bears sampled between 1980 and 1987; one was positive for Leptospira interrogans serogroup icterohaemorrhagiae and 13 (38%) were positive for Toxoplasma Jondii. The book manuscript on parasites and diseases of wild mammals in Florida was accepted for publication and final revisions of each chapter were made. A chapter on eagles was written for a second book on the parasites and diseases of wild birds in Florida. The sixth·year of a longterm study of the health and reproductive status of white-tailed deer from Big Cypress National Preserve, Fakahatchee Strand, and private lands to the north of Big Cypress was completed.