All things wildlife disease

In this episode of the Wildtalk Podcast, Eric and guest host Melinda Cosgrove start off the show with a brief history of the wildlife disease laboratory. That's followed up with a chat about wildlife diseases affecting birds, before finally talking about wildlife diseases that affect mammals. 

Episode Hosts: Melinda Cosgrove and Eric Hilliard
Producer/editor: Eric Hilliard

• All things habitat
  • Wildlife disease laboratory
• All things feathers
  • Wildlife Disease Manual
  • Highly Pathogenic Avian Influenza
  • West Nile Virus
  • Botulism
  • Report diseased wildlife
• All things fur
  • Rabies
  • Public health directory for rabies testing
  • Canine and feline distemper
  • Bovine tuberculosis

Questions or comments about the show? Contact the DNR Wildlife Division at 517-284-9453 (WILD) or email dnr-wildlife@michigan.gov.

Transcript

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Speaker
You know what that sound means. It's time for the Michigan DNR WildTalk podcast. Welcome to the WildTalk podcast for representatives from the DNR Wildlife Division chew the fat and shoot the scat about all things habitat, feathers and fur. With insights, interviews and your questions answered on the air. You'll get a better picture of what's happening in the world of wildlife here in the great state of Michigan.

Melinda
Hello and welcome to the WildTalk Podcast. I'm Melinda Cosgrove, and I'll be your guest host this month. And I'm here with my co-host Eric Hilliard.

Eric
You're here with your co-host, Eric the Frog, because I've got a bit of a frog in my throat, so if I sound a little rougher than normal, I think the seasonal allergies are just kind of getting to me a little bit. Yeah.

Melinda
It's that time of year.

Eric
So I will. I will say, Melinda, super stoked to have you here. It's always fun working with you folks out at the lab, particularly in the past with cutting lymph nodes out of deer heads, which I tell you what, for our listeners, it is insane. The number of deer heads that get processed out at the disease lab, both for chronic wasting disease and bovine TB. But it is. It's an insane number of deer heads. How many did you all process this last year?

Melinda
This last year it was probably close to 6,000 which is more reasonable. In past years we've done a lot more than that. And the one of the years you were probably out there, we are probably over 30,000 and it was probably our busy year. It is very physical. So your, you know, description of not being able to bend over; our staff do you feel that. Yeah. It's actually after hours and hours down there and years and years of doing it. So so we've tried to reduce that number back to what do we actually need to do to find out the information we need without overtaxing our system and and overusing our staff and our resources. So we've designed other ways that hunters can still get testing done without all of those having to come through that same process and, and made testing available still statewide.

Eric
Yeah. And I'm guessing we're going to talk about that in more in this segment. You're kind of hijacking things a little bit for the lab. This is episode our aren't ya, which is fascinating. I think that I think our listeners are really going to enjoy this.

Melinda
Yeah, great. You know, you were talking about, you know, working with us over the years. So I wanted to tell you something really cool. On June 1st, the date of the drop for this podcast is my anniversary with the department. I will have been here 27 years. 

Eric
Wow. 

Melinda
I was just thinking, how cool was that? After all this time? I'm still getting getting to do very new things on the job. So, you know, my first time on a podcast, definitely a first time hosting one. So I thought it was really neat to have it happen right on my university date. So yeah.

Eric
I'm honestly kind of surprised we haven't had you on the podcast in the past. I remember, you know, Dan O'Brian hosted one episode a number of years ago with me, and then we had the the roundtable panel discussing why people should leave wildlife in the wild. And that was a really interesting episode, but I think you might have provided maybe some background information for the folks at roam. But it's nice to finally have you out here.

Melinda
Yeah, I appreciate it. So good to be here.

Eric
Obviously, we're going to talk about the lab a little bit, but what else do you have lined up for today?

Melinda
All right. Yeah. So I'm taking some liberties today on this month's podcast and doing a little bit of a wildlife health takeover. So I know that normally it's all things habitat, all things fur and all things feather. But for the first segment, I'm going to talk about what is my habitat, which is the lab. And I'm going to give you a history of the lab and talk about some of the work that we do there. In the All Things Fur and Feathers segment, I'll talk about a few of the wildlife health concerns that we see in each of those groups of animals, ones that people might often have questions about or come in contact with this time of year.

Eric
Excellent. And you mention that you've been with us for 27 years. What exactly is your role out of the lab? Just to kind of give people a little more background about you?

Melinda
Absolutely. So I'm currently the lab manager there, and I have I started as a lab technician. I did that for a number of years, and I actually went back, got my master's degree while I was working at the lab on a bovine tuberculosis project in and then moved into a lab scientist role. And then I've been a lab manager now for about eight years, I think. And and so I supervise a few staff. I, I manage the logistics and day to day operations at the lab, coordinate with our field staff and and work on disease surveillance plans and just a variety of things.

Eric
Well, I think our listeners are in for a real treat.

Melinda
Some people are going to like this, and some people are gonna be like, this is really gross.

Eric
Yeah. 

Melinda
Too much talk about feces. 

Eric
Yeah. I think some of our listeners are definitely going to like this. Some might think it's a little gross. I mean, we've already talked about cutting lymph nodes out of deer heads, but there is a reason for that. And our listeners get to get to hear a little bit more about the important role that the that the lab plays here in the wildlife division.

Melinda
I work definitely is not glamorous, but it gives us a lot of information, and it's important to safeguard the health of wildlife through the work we do. And someone's got to do it. And that's us. Well, before we get into all of that, let's hear a word from our warblers.

Speaker
Hey, Michigan drivers, a little bird told me your license plate can do more than just tag your car. The wildlife habitat plate, featuring the iconic Kirtland's warbler helps protect Michigan's nongame fish and wildlife through the Nongame Fish and Wildlife Trust Fund. But hurry, this plate is changing soon. Want to keep the warbler flying? You can even get one as a collector's item; no car required. Support Michigan's wildlife and get your plate before this bird flies away. Visit michigan.gov/SOS.

*Transition music

Melinda
All right Eric, so as I mentioned in this first segment today, I'm going to talk a little bit about our wildlife health section. Now, the wildlife health section is a unique part of the wildlife division, and we're responsible for monitoring the health of wildlife across the state of Michigan.

Eric
So just a small job. Nothing. Not yeah, just a small job across the entire state. Okay.

Melinda
That's right. So we are involved in cause of death diagnosis of wildlife disease surveillance. We've also been involved in public outreach and education efforts about wildlife disease and species recovery efforts over the years as well. But you'll also hear is called the Wildlife Disease Lab. That's what we are solely known as for many years until we became our own section. And a lot of times those terms get used interchangeably. So the disease lab itself kind of describes our physical location. And but you'll hear me mostly refer to it as a lab throughout today.

Eric
Yeah. I mean, that's kind of how most of us in the other sections throughout, you know, in units, I'm in the design and communications unit, obviously, but if we're talking about anything wildlife, disease related words like, oh yeah, let me go, give Melinda a call out at the lab or let me talk to Julie out at the lab.

Melinda
Yes, yes. So, yeah. So while we are on section, we, you know, our physical space is a lab, so that makes sense. 

Eric
Yeah. And it's a cool lab, too.

Melinda
It is. It is pretty neat. So we're going to talk more about that right now. But first we'll go back in time a little bit and look all the way back to the 1920s. And during that time, both Michigan State University and the University of Michigan had some really great lab facilities, but they didn't really have a direct connection with what was then the Department of Conservation. It is what we know now is the Department of Natural Resources, and there were some Wildlife Division staff which were game division staff at that time that did some wildlife health surveys. There are records that date back to 1933, but it wasn't until 1935 that a lab was actually established, and that was in Giltner Hall on MSU's campus. And this was when they first hired a veterinary pathologist. So it was the first actually staff that were hired on just for this particular work. The lab was dedicated to investigating parasites and diseases and even nutrition of wildlife at that time. And here's a cool thing Michigan was actually the first state agency in the country to establish a wildlife disease laboratory and hire a veterinary pathologists. So it is the history of where wildlife health programs and disease investigations across the nation actually began right here in Michigan. So a year after the lab opened, the division actually purchased a trailer, and they converted that into a mobile lab. And so this allowed staff then to travel around the state and really do examinations of wildlife, mainly game animals at that time, game birds, game mammals. And it allowed staff to really just go where the people in the wildlife were. Pretty sure, probably back in those days that shipping samples, the lab took a lot longer than it does in today's world. So yeah, so this really just expanded the their ability to get their hands on more samples and do more investigations across the state.

Eric
So was this just like a, I don't know, like a covered trailer like you might see nowadays kind of converted into a makeshift lab or was it something a little bit fancier?

Melinda
Yeah, it looks like a little camping trailer, basically. 

Eric
Okay. 

Melinda
Yeah, we have pictures of it. It's it's pretty neat to see so that they did that. So then during 1937 to 38 they actually opened a museum within the lab. I don't know how big this was, but they had basically...

Eric
A museum for a lab that just started seeing so little?

Melinda
Yeah! But they had study skins in there and game animal mounts and parasites they had documented, and they really just used it for education and research purposes. And so that's kind.

Eric
So kind of like we do now where we're where we will take pelts and things like that to trade shows and different events.

Melinda
Yes. Yeah. They had them all just in, you know, a museum setting for, for that purpose. So yeah. So it was a little tidbit that I learned, after working there that I thought was interesting.

Eric
So that would almost be really almost a precursor, a very, you know, ancient precursor to the Outdoor Adventure Center in, in Detroit.

Melinda
Yes, yes, probably a smaller scale, but yeah, very similar.

Eric
Exactly. Yeah. So, so that was the first outdoor adventure center. 

Melinda
There you go. 

Eric
But mostly focused on parasites. 

Melinda
Yes, exactly. The lab also provided diagnostic services to hunters. So if a hunter harvested an animal and noticed something abnormal, they could submit it and get some information back on what it was. And and obviously that helped the state keep an eye on, you know, any health issues that were occurring or emerging in Michigan as well. And we still offer that service today. So that's something that we've continued to do. You know, coming up and over 90 years now. So but then World War Two began and that really kind of depleted lab staff. So according to some old department records, the space became more limited that we had available and because of military service and then deaths from the war. But we really were depleted in terms of staff and and so from about 1943 to 46, there was really very minimal research being done. However, the war and then and the veterinary pathologist came back and additional employee was hired. So space and and staff were still limited for a few years there. But in 1951 they actually moved into a new location. And this was still within Gilder Hall, but it gave them a little bit more space to expand on some work they were doing and hire some additional staff. However, at the same time, MSU was also expanding their work and needing more lab space. So in 1956, the lab then moved out to the Rose Lake property, and that's out in Clinton County, east of East Lansing. I guess for those that aren't familiar with the area there.

Eric
Yeah. And that building has since been demolished. Correct?

Melinda
Well, they weren't in that building yet. So in the barn out there at this time. So if you can imagine a lab moving into the barn didn't really have all of your needs met. So I think a few staff still worked on campus that could, but they were.

Eric
Probably a little bit more room than in the trailer, though, right?

Melinda
Right. Yes. Yes, absolutely, absolutely. And you can convert, you know, areas and barns to meet your needs to. So, so they only worked in the barn, though for about three years. And that's when the building on at, Rose Lake, was built and completed. You know, the, the lab had now been in existence for about 20 years. And they were just doing a variety of investigations and research. A lot of new things were being learned about the health of wildlife. So the 1950s is really when work began to flourish. So we had things like canine distemper in raccoons or EHD, episodic hemorrhagic disease in deer meningeal worm, which is a brain worm that we find an elk know, as well as pesticide poisonings from DDT, which I'm sure people are familiar with. Those are all being first identified during the 1950s. And so it was a really busy time. And that's when the importance of the health of wildlife and those impacts were really starting to become recognized worldwide. 

Eric
Especially with the DDT. I mean, that had such an impact on migratory birds. 

Melinda
Absolutely. 

Eric
It took a long time for them to recover.

Melinda
Yes, yes. So very important things being all figured out during that time. So because of all of this and, you know, recognizing the need for this work to continue, that's when the Rose Lake Research Center was built out on the Rose Lake property. And that opened up in 1959. And it had office space. It had a necropsy floor, it had lab spaces with benchtops in there for work. It also had some animal holding pens out back. So it was really kind of, at the time, probably a state of the art facility for the purpose that they were needing to use it for. Over the next few decades. The name would change a few times. So it had been when it first opened. I don't know if I mentioned this was the Game Division Lab, so our Game Lab was always called, and then the name would change a few times over the decades until it finally landed on the wildlife disease lab in 1984. So that's where we became that. And and so through the decades, though, that that work still continued to expand. And in addition to the things I have already mentioned, there were things like raccoon, roundworm, lead poisoning in waterfowl, which is which eventually led to the ban of lead shot for waterfowl hunting. And also there were significant die offs of waterfowl from botulism and all of these were being identified for the first time here in Michigan. And so, so, so a lot of great work happening over the next few decades. And the lab remained in the space at Rose Lake for the next 45 years. And this is actually where I started my career. And so a really cool place to be, a beautiful place to have.

Eric
Oh yeah. It was. Yeah. Right there in the lake. It was very nice. Yeah.

Melinda
Yeah. So it was a great place for me to start. You know, I worked a few temp jobs out there before, you know, getting lucky enough to get a job with the lab and my. Because the space was becoming outdated and had been around for a while. My my office, my desk at least, was actually in a converted space in one of the benchtop labs. And so the space was starting to become a little small for increasing needs again, and particularly with the discovery of bovine tuberculosis in wild deer, our work was increasing. We were hiring more staff, and because of this, we returned to MSU. So now we've come full circle back to MSU. But this time it was a lab built with the purpose up our work in mind as well as diagnostic work and collaborative work. So in 2004, the Diagnostic Center for Population and Animal Health.

Eric
That's that's a mouthful. 

Melinda
It is. So now it's just called the Veterinary Diagnostic Lab. So the name has been shortened and a little easier to to say that was completed on the south end of MSU's campus. And this is the building that it is run by MSU. But the DNR actually has dedicated space within this building. And we have office and lab space. We have a biosafety level three necropsy floor, which is probably where you were when you came in there.

Eric
Yeah, it's very interesting to have to put on disposable underwear and like different socks and everything else. Yeah. It's like, oh, I'm putting on completely different clothes when I come to work here.

Melinda
Yes. And it is a shower out facility. So this facilty was really built with safety protocols in mind as well because we're working on infectious diseases. So so all those things were improvements over, you know, an old building at Rose Lake, which at one time probably was like really state of the art, but, you know, had aged and had surpassed its usefulness.

Eric
Yeah. It's really interesting when you think about people who will take wildlife into their home and sort of adopt it. And a lot of times, we, particularly in social media, people will be upset when the DNR removes a wild animal from somebodys home. But when you go to work and you have to put on disposable underwear and shower completely before leaving a facility, and while you're in there, you've got ventilator equipment on and everything else. It puts things in a different perspective when you realize that, yes, there are infectious diseases that animals have that can jump to humans and can then be even transmitted from those humans to other humans, and they, you know, mutating viruses and everything else. Yeah, you get when you go to work out there. You have a different perspective on human and wildlife interactions and the importance of giving wildlife their distance.

Melinda
Absolutely. And, you know, we know most of the time that those people, you know, they have a good heart about it.

Eric
Yes. Good intentions.

Melinda
There's good intentions there. But there definitely are human health and safety concerns around some of these animals. And it doesn't mean that every wildlife that's out there is carrying disease, but you don't always know which ones are, and that's where you take precautions just to make sure that you're not incidentally infecting yourself or your family by these, you know, just trying to do a good thing. And then there are people that are professionals that are trained to handle this and now take care of those animals in a proper way and in a proper environment where they'll safety precautions can be put in place.

Eric
Yeah. And Dan O'Brien, who I mentioned earlier, who's who's retired now, I seem to remember him saying there was one case of a human that got bovine tuberculosis, and they were able to track through the genetics of the virus, and it basically tracked it back to this deer that a, you know, a fawn that a family had quote-on-quote, rescued, right?

Melinda
Yes, yes. That is the person was was not a hunter or it did not have any background in the agricultural industry. So you're the where we would see it in animals. They had no connection to any of that. But they did have a family home or cabin up in the area where we see TB. And as a child they had videos of the kids hand feeding deer and, someone, a neighbor taking care of a fawn. And they believe that at some point in one of those interactions is where this person became infected.

Eric
Yeah, I can especially you're talking about, you know, hand feeding deer. Saliva. Kids aren't always the greatest at washing their hands.

Melinda
Keeping them out of their mouths.

Eric
Yeah. So yep. Could definitely see how that would occur. Sure.

Melinda
Yes. So so that's one. And we'll talk about some other ones too today that will kind of I guess highlight the reasons of, of why we really need to be careful with some of these animals and, and not handling them if they're sick or especially if they're, they're acting abnormal. So soon after we, the lab moved into this space, that's when we were recognizes our own health section. So this is where the wildlife health section name came in. We so most people probably aren't familiar that the division is broken down into further region sections and units. And formerly we had been part of the research section, but due to the recognized importance of the work we were doing in the increasing workload that we had, how we were finally became recognized as our own section. And it's now been 22 years that we have been housed in the veterinary diagnostic lab. It's really allowed for some great partnerships and collaborations. They do a lot of our diagnostic work. So if we have samples that we need to submit for further testing, and if you have cases that you need to discuss, they're just right down the hall. And it's easy to have those conversations. And so it really makes for great collaborative workspace.


So we went from probably a ten by ten kind of necropsy floor out at Rose Lake to having space needed to do disease surveillance on diseases like bovine tuberculosis. As we mentioned, and chronic wasting disease, among many others. And so also, as I mentioned, it was just built with the protocols and safety in mind to handle these things.

Eric
You've got lots of room for 30,000 deer heads.

Melinda
Yes. Well. Not really 

Eric
Not not all at once anyway.

Melinda
No, no. And then this thing we we were not prepared for that. But to do more reasonable on that. We have the space for that now. So I guess there you have over 90 years of history boiled down into maybe ten minutes or so there, there have been a lot of great people who have actually worked out at the lab over the years, and there have been some leaders in wildlife health that have spent their careers there. And, and I feel very fortunate to have crossed paths and worked with a lot of those as well. So beyond deer heads, I know a lot of people have interests in deer, but we do work on a lot of other things at our lab. And so we're going to talk about that a bit more in the next segment. Were going to start off with highly pathogenic avian influenza.

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*Transition music

Melinda
Today we're going to stick with our wildlife health theme and talk about a few common health issues that affect birds, or that we often get questions about. So there are a lot of things I could cover today, and it's more than we have time for, obviously. So if you're interested in more, either on the ones that I'm talking about today or on other ones that I don't talk about today, we do have on our website what we call our wildlife disease manual, and it has detailed chapters on each of these diseases that I'll talk about, plus more. And you can find that on our web page at michigan.com/wildlifedisease.

Eric
And we will also link to that in our show notes.

Melinda
So the first one I want to talk about a little bit today, Eric is highly pathogenic avian influenza. And now this one's been in the news in recent years. So people are probably more familiar with it because of that. It is caused by a virus. It's an influenza A virus, and it occurs naturally in wild waterfowl. But domestic poultry are very susceptible to this virus. The virus gets classified and you'll hear, you know, if you hear something like H5n1, because it's classified into different combinations by the groups of proteins. And so there are H proteins, which are your hemagglutinin proteins, and N proteins, which are your neuraminidase proteins. And there are nine H proteins 16 and N proteins. So they can combine together in any form, which makes 144 different possible combinations that could be out there.

Eric
Oh, wow. Yeah, just just 144 different variations.

Melinda
Yeah. But there are a few that are more concerning. And these also get classified further into either a low pathogenic strain or a high pathogenic strain. And and that really is determined by the amount of disease they can cause in poultry. So low pathogenic strains really don't have any ill effects on wildlife. They can cause mild disease in poultry. However, it's when they mutate into these high pathogenic strains that they really can wreak havoc and we can see waterfowl or other wildlife die offs from the high pathogenic strains, as well as severe mortality in poultry. It can move through poultry pretty quickly.

Eric
And that's those are the ones that we tend to be concerned about jumping from the wildlife or from like wildlife to poultry, from poultry to humans. Right?

Melinda
Exactly. Yes. That's right. So besides waterfowl, waterbirds, other water birds, scavengers and raptors are species that are pretty susceptible. And that one include like your eagles, hawks, falcons, vultures. And then we've also found that wild mammals are also susceptible to this. In the most recent outbreak. And and that's mostly from scavenging on infected bird carcasses. There have been I guess recently, two cases in cattle that were has happened in most recent years, two where we found that cattle could also become infected with highly pathogenic avian influenza. And there have been a few human cases in the US, but most of those have been farm workers who are working with infected poultry or cattle. Transmission of the virus can happen through nasal secretions and feces, other bodily fluids. So, you know, can you other humans are passing colds necessarily through feces. But yeah, if you pass in similar ways, right. So coughing, sneezing and anything saliva left behind on a surface and.

Eric
Make sure you're washing your hands, people.

Melinda
Correct. And so it's when maybe an uninfected animal comes in contact with an infected animal, or those secretions that are left behind in the environment so that viruses in those and it's in the environment and, you know, it can last in the environment for a different period of time. And it really depends on the material and the temperature. So it does really well. It's surviving in kind of wet or cooler temperatures and that kind of environment. But when it gets warmer I'm going to say like over 80 degrees. It it starts it off pretty quickly, maybe only lasts a couple days in the environment at that point. So that's why we typically see spikes in cases in the spring. So you have the migrations happening. So migratory birds are moving across and carrying the virus with them. And then also the the conditions in the environment are also better for survival of the virus. And then it tends to slow a little bit in the summer. And then we'll see a smaller spike in the fall when that reverse migration takes place.

Eric
You know, is it pretty easy to tell when a bird is sick, like, can you just look at it and say, oh, that bird's got avian influenza.

Melinda
So sometimes, yes, but there are a lot of birds that can be asymptomatic, which means they won't show symptoms at all. So you may not know that they're sick, and you may find them dead later. But if you do notice waterfowl, we've had ones that are swimming in circles showing tremors and, you know, just not able to hold themselves upright. Those are usually signs. And we've seen that in geese a lot and waterbirds that are are more highly affected. And you can see those kind of symptoms. Other animals, I think it especially raptors, it might cause mortality a lot more quickly, and you might just find those lying dead near your property.

Eric
We had a lot of bald eagles that were that high mortality among them. One of these, you know, a season or two ago. Right?

Melinda
Yeah, we did. And a lot of times they would be found dead just on the ground underneath their nest. And that's how people are identifying those and not necessarily seeing symptoms beforehand. And so those are ones I would say that we would look into single birds. So sometimes, you know overall usually we're looking at population health. That's really our our goal for wildlife. But there are certain animals right that are maybe species of concern or are, you know, smaller in numbers that we would be interested in individual animals in, in raptors and eagles. Birds like that would be ones that we would probably want to look at if they were found dead or if you noticed them acting in and it wasn't a large die off, but with water, birds or waterfowl, that's where we start looking for. If you notice that there are six or more is usually kind of a threshold we give that you notice that are sick or dying, and that's when we'd like to know about that and investigate those.

Eric
Yeah, I seem to remember too because it's not always even sometimes you'll see what appears to be a large die off and you're like, oh, this must be some sort of disease. I remember case, I think it was last year, maybe the year before, where there was a large number of waterfowl that were dead in the same spot, but it was because they were hitting like a power line or something like that. That was as they were coming in for a landing. They just didn't see it or whatever. 

Melinda
Yes. 

Eric
And they were basically close lining themselves, for lack of a better term, on this wire and dying. But when you look at it, you're like, oh, here's a bunch of dead birds. It must be a disease.

Melinda
Yes, we have people saying birds are falling from the sky, you know? And so it's kind of scary if you see that. But yeah, there are a lot of other things obviously, that can, can cause that as well. And, and this is just one of the things that we look for.

Eric
Yeah. And not that we wouldn't want to know about that as well...

Melinda
Correct.

Eric
Because we don't know until we check and see. But that's why the lab is so valuable, right. 

Melinda
Yeah.

Eric
Because you guys can look at these and say, oh no, this is obviously a trauma induced death. There's no, you know, disease here to worry about.

Melinda
Right! Yeah. So we do have a form online that people can go to to report any sick or dead wildlife that they do find. And in some instances we may reach out and want to investigate, particularly if it's something that is maybe sounds suspicious or is like for avian influenza, if it's just starting to appear for the year. You know, we try to confirm it in an areas to know that that's what's circulating. And then from then on, we really just monitor the reports, especially if we've already confirmed it in an area just to keep eyes on it and just to keep track of maybe the impact it's having on wildlife. And so a lot of people think sometimes if they don't hear from us or when they report something that we're not using their information, but we we are we we do track that. And it is very helpful to, to let us know where the disease is occurring and the impact it's having. And so we do appreciate any reports that people submit.

Eric
Yeah. And sometimes a large die off might be something like botulism too, right?

Melinda
And we're going to talk about that in a few minutes. 

Eric
Oh wow.

Melinda
But before we go there I want to talk about just briefly about West Nile virus, because this is another one that we'll start showing up about this time of year. And and I won't go in as many details about this one, but it is another virus the West Nile virus. So see with the name you can tell it's a virus. And it is while it's caused by a virus and it can cause bird mortality. This is typically in corvids which include your blue jays, crows and ravens. And so those are kind of our sentinel species that we look at for for this disease. And raptors can also be pretty susceptible to this as well. So that's another thing. If you see a single raptor right. It could be multiple things. And in here we have two diseases right here that it could be either one of those. And so any bird or mammal can be affected by West Nile virus. But this one is transmitted through the bite of a mosquito. So unlike AI where it can be direct transmission from animal to animal or in the environment, this one is only transmitted through the bite of a mosquito. So mosquito bites an infected animal and then bites on. It carries the virus with them and bites a non-infected animal. And that's how the virus gets transmitted. So obviously people can get bit by mosquitoes as well. So they are at risk for this disease as well. And obviously it's the same, you know, recommendation to give for, you know, just protecting your self against mosquitoes in general. And you know, wearing spray or staying indoors, you know, during prime time of mosquito activity.

Eric
Yeah. Even even if there's no risk of West Nile virus, you don't really like to see the skin, right?

Melinda
So this is just kind of an extra, extra saving there. So with this disease noticeable symptoms might be before death might be weakness uncoordinated movement. They might seem pretty lethargic and unable to hold their head upright. We've seen that in in raptors in particular where they just kind of seem like their heads bobbing and they can't hold it upright.

Eric
It sounds pretty similar to like lead poisoning to almost.

Melinda
So, so a lot of these things have overlapping symptoms. Yes. So it is why, you know, we we have to look at things to be able to properly diagnose what's really going on with the animal. So as I mentioned, corvids are used as the sentinel species due to their high susceptibility and die offs of corvids. Usually our indicator that the virus is circulating. So we we will try and keep a close eye on those birds particularly, you know, during the spring and summer when mosquito activity is high. And so if you notice sick or dead corvids in your area, these are great to report to us as well, through that same online reporting form that I mentioned. And we do try to test birds from each county to confirm that the virus is circulating. And then again after that, we'll just monitor reports to assess the impacts. In addition, we work with our human health colleagues to help with early human health warnings as well. So they'll put out notices once it's been detected. Just to give people a heads up.

Eric
Yeah. Gotta love that. Interdepartmental coordination.

Melinda
Yes.

Eric
Keeping everybody safe.

Melinda
So yeah as you mentioned like earlier on in the podcast this you know a lot of these diseases moved from animals to humans. And we call that zoonotic disease. Right. So a lot of these things that we do work with are zoonotic. And and these are why we work together with our human health colleagues. And, and trying to, you know, we do our job and monitoring in wildlife. It helps them do their job and helping keep people safe. So earlier you mentioned botulism. Botulism is actually a toxin. And and this is caused by a bacteria Clostridium botulinum.

Eric
So we're not dealing with viruses anymore.

Melinda
This one is not a virus. So you know viruses really do cause the majority of infectious diseases. But bacteria come in second place. And so this one is a bacteria and it is found this bacteria is found in soils throughout North America. And it causes an intoxication rather than infectious disease. And so in Michigan we actually have two forms. We have one called type C and one called type E. A type C is really associated with bottom sediments in aquatic environments. And and so that typically affects waterfall and other birds like shorebirds that are living and feeding on invertebrates and these environments. And then we have type E which is associated with the consumption of dead or decaying fish. It also can include feeding on mice. And, and if they're infected, birds that are dead in the area too. But it affects mainly fish eating birds. So you would include your loons, gulls, grebes, eagles so all your ducks and mergansers as well.

Eric
And so when you say this has a and it's an intoxicating bacteria, does so is it almost like I mean this is a crude example but like binge drinking. Like binge drinking too much to where like the liver gets poisoned or like how does this break down exactly.

Melinda
That's a perfect question. Because actually, what does that tell you next is it's more like a food poisoning. So they come, you know, I guess you could compare it to what you're saying, but it is like a toxin in the food. So if you got food poisoning it could be kind of similar except for this is causing neurological symptoms as well. So and it and really what how this starts with I'll give you an example for type C is it starts with those aquatic invertebrates. So they will pick up that bacteria in the sediments. And then the birds you know in late summer the water levels and the water temperature. So the water levels go down and water temperatures rise, and those invertebrates can die off because of that. And they become really a good medium for that bacteria to grow and produce toxin. And then the birds come in and they feed off of those invertebrates, and then they, you know, get sick from that and ingest that toxin and die then. And, and this probably won't be appetizing to many people. But when you have dead bird carcasses around, you often get maggots on those. And those will ingest the toxin from those that bird carcasses. And they are a food source for other birds. So other birds will come in and eat the maggots and also and ingest the toxin. So that just amplifies that cycle and increases the mortality. The type is similar. The bacteria for these really thrive in those late summer anaerobic water conditions.

Eric
When you say anaerobic, what do you mean by that?

Melinda
So that's when you have like lower oxygen levels in the water. So again you're getting high water temperatures and low water levels. And so you have lower oxygen levels and things tend to die off and in those environments. Right. 

Eric
Gotcha. 

Melinda
And so the bacteria there is not only ingested by those in aquatic invertebrates, but it also can be ingested by fish. And the fish can do it either directly from the sediments or by eating those invertebrates. And then the fish in the cycle then become that medium for that bacteria to grow and produce toxin. So the that fish then get consumed by fish eating water birds and subsequently become poisoned from that.

Eric
Yeah. It's interesting. It's a whole circle of life thing, right? Everything is trying to replicate itself and kill other things to continue to replicate.

Melinda
Yes, yes. That's and I think a lot of these animals like that, it's like kind of like, you know, I'm not a big fan of buffets, but I think of it like these animals show up and like, wow, look at this. All this food to eat. And then they get sick afterwards.

Eric
Yeah. I'm not a big fan of buffets either, you know that. I've always found them a little bit, especially after covid and everything else. I just I have a really hard time just I'm looking I'm thinking to myself, yeah, this just looks like a petri dish of not good things here.

Melinda
Yes it does. So for this disease, birds that are seen ill prior to death, they might seem paralyzed, their wings might droop. So they would have difficulty flying and again, just unable to kind of hold themselves or their heads upright. But a lot of times botulism is really just noted by a sudden presence of dead birds. So you'll see them along the shoreline typically so larger lakes like Lake Michigan, we tend to get those late summer almost every year. We get some die offs up there from that. Type E then is also associated with a lot of dead fish washing ashore, too. And so given that these are really associated more with low, low lake levels and high temperatures, there's really not a lot of practical management or prevention for it. But cleaning up, you know.

Eric
So we can't just say drag a garden hose to the lake and you know.

Melinda
Yeah fresh water! No, that wouldn't work. But, you know, I, you know, talking about this cycle and kind of the replication of it, you know, one of the things that can be done and there are groups that actually conservation groups that do this, but they'll go and clean up the shorelines, will pick up the birds to remove them from the shore, the dead fish as well, to try and break that cycle.

Eric
Yeah. They're at least minimizing the damage.

Melinda
Correct. Yeah, yeah. And again, you can report these through our website. You know, I'll tell you this over and over because if every one of these diseases, you know, a lot of them come with die offs. And those are the ones that we want to see reported back to us so we can keep an eye on when they start to occur.

Eric
Yeah. I mean, we can put a link directly to that form in the show notes, but otherwise you go to michigan.gov/wildlifedisease. You will see a button for it right up at the top of the page to report your sick or diseased wildlife. 

Speaker
3,300 miles of Great Lakes shoreline, 11,000 inland lakes, 56,000 miles of rivers and streams. Fish? Too many to count. All you need to do is grab your gear, buy your fishing license and get out there. Get your Michigan fishing license in store. In the Michigan DNR Hunt Fish app or online at michigan.gov/dnrlicenses.

*Transition music

Melinda
Let's jump straight into some health issues that concern mammals now. And first off, I want to talk a little bit about rabies. So rabies is another disease caused by; what is it Eric?

Eric
A virus. 

Melinda
Yes. And it's actually probably one of the oldest infectious diseases being reported in Asia as early as 2000 BC, and it was likely brought to North America in probably the 1700s by the early settlers with dogs that they brought over with them. And there are distinct strains of rabies. They are named by the species that primarily maintains them, although they're not limited to only affecting those species. So the most common strain we have in Michigan is the bat strain rabies, followed by skunk strain rabies. But due to some strong wildlife vaccination efforts of our neighboring states like Ohio's, we haven't yet had a case of raccoon strain rabies here in Michigan.

Eric
Yeah, and those bat strains are certainly a concern from a public health standpoint. I think it was if my memory is correct, 2013, we had a death of a person who was bitten by a bat. And and that's coming from an interview that Dan and I did with a representative from Department of Health and Human Services. 

Melinda
Oh, yeah.

Eric
And the only reason why they know that or why they figure it was a bat, is because that individual had told somebody that he was bitten by a bat.

Melinda
And didn't seek treatment.

Eric
And didn't seek treatment and, and ended up with, you know, dying of rabies as a result. And we haven't had anything since then. So, you know, obviously with the bats get that bat tested if it's if it's in your house, but one that surprises me, you know, you bring up the skunk strain like, you know, people who will have outdoor house cats or, you know, indoor outdoor house cats, and they send them out, you know, those cats will sometimes get into a tussle with skunks. And if that skunk has rabies, you know, people don't tend to...

Melinda
Think about that. 

Eric
They don't think about it. They don't usually get their cat vaccinated for rabies. Right. Like it's not very common. So just something to keep in mind if you if you have a cat. The lifespan of indoor cats is far longer than the lifespan of of outdoor cats. And as much as your cat might want to go outside, these are the things that you have to keep in mind if that cat's out there.

Melinda
Yeah, we definitely recommend keeping your cat indoors for a variety of wildlife reasons. And so that. But that is a good point there too. So you're right. You know, we think about this with dogs getting a rabies vaccination but not typically cats. And but if your cat did, you know, get entangled with a skunk and get bitten or scratched, it would be important to follow up with your veterinarian on that.

Eric
Yeah. The good thing is, most of the time you can tell if your cat's gotten into a tangle with a skunk because you can smell it.

Melinda
Yeah, yeah, yeah, that's true. Yes. I mean, all mammals can really become infected with rabies. So even though these species are maintaining the virus, you know, any, you know, kind of a mammal that they might bite or scratch can become infected with rabies.

Eric
Including us.

Melinda
Including people, yes. And, you know, we think of bats and raccoons, skunks and fox usually as being like these, what we call rabies vector species. So they're the ones carrying it. But, you know, if you or your pet, you know, encounters one of these animals, it's particularly if it's acting abnormal. But, you know, sometimes even if it's not, it's really important first to make sure, you know, like we said, your dogs are up on your rabies vaccination. But if any of your pets, you know, happen to get better scratched up of their veterinarian, they can recommend vaccination or a booster dose. If it's your dog that is already vaccinated. For a person, you would want to follow up with your local health department and they can help you with post-exposure treatment. You know there are, you know, when you are exposed to the virus through a bite or a scratch. There's this time called the incubation period. It's when the viruses, you know, entered your body but hasn't yet kind of started taking over your nervous system. And that's really the most important time to seek treatment, because once symptoms start to occur, this disease is nearly almost fatal. So it's not really something to take lightly. If you are exposed to one of these animals. And and anyways, and we mentioned, you know that transmission occurs through the virus scratch. There are a few cases where there has been aerosolized in the virus. I think that's a little bit more rare though. So for most of the time, you know, you're going to want to be interested in I guess if you had bats in your your attic, you know, you know.

Eric
Like a large colony or something like that.

Melinda
And, you know, a lot of times people say, well, they were there in the attic and, you know, well, I found one in the house one time, but I don't think it was bitten. But I know there are cases of people being bitten in the middle night and not knowing it. You know, bats have really small teeth, and if you're a heavy sleeper, you may not really know that you were bitten by one. So if you do find them in the house, it you know, if you can get that even the animal tested. So a lot of times if there's an exposure, it's important to also test the animal that was involved in a sick acting animal. Obviously this means that it either has died from illness or has to be euthanized prior to testing. But it gives you a more definitive, you know, knowledge about whether or not that animal actually was infected with rabies.

Eric
Yeah. And I believe the Department of Health and Human Services has some instructions on their website as far as, like how to capture a bat in the event that you don't know if you were, if you were bit or scratched or if you know that you were bit or scratched, and how you can submit that animal for for testing. And we'll link to that in our in our show notes. 

Melinda
Great. Yes. Some of the symptoms I think, you know, to help recognize this disease to, you know, animals like kind of exhibit signs of restlessness or vicious and aggressive behavior, probably things that people will typically think about. Right. An aggressive animal, you know, it's rabid, but a lot of the times this those symptoms will eventually subside and they'll have convulsions and paralysis prior to dying. But not all animals infected with rabies will show those symptoms. So sometimes symptoms will go straight to just convulsions and paralysis and then death afterwards. So so again, you know, these are general symptoms. But there's always exceptions to everything. So better be safe than sorry.

Eric
Yes. And I certainly don't want convulsions paralysis leading to death from rabies. So I'm going to keep my eyes open and try to pay attention.

Melinda
It's a good idea. Yeah. It is, it is 100% fatal in wildlife. And there's only a handful of people in the in the world that have actually survived actually infection. So this is after symptoms occurred. And usually that comes with long term neurological problems. So but definitely so be cautious and and and follow up if you have those exposures.

Eric
Yeah.

Melinda
So the next one that I want to talk about is canine distemper virus. Again another virus. And this one affects canidaes. So that's animals of the dog family. How about raccoons are also highly susceptible to this disease. And the reason I bring this one up is because a lot of times it is mistaken for rabies. And so I think it's an important one to talk about as well. People might notice raccoons out in the middle of the day and think that they have a rabid raccoon, and there's no way to really know without diagnostic testing. And so those are why those are important to get tested. The virus can also affect a group of animals called mustelids. So that would include skunks again, but also weasels and otter and other animals as well in that group. But in Michigan, raccoons are the most affected by canine distemper, followed by the gray fox. And this transmission usually happens through respiratory. So and this would be kind of, you know, aerosol droplets that have the virus in them are inhaled by an uninfected individual. And then they become infected with this. And the symptoms are similar sometimes to rabies. So they can show some lack of fear and aggression, disorientation, but they also can show excessive thirst and diarrhea and vomiting. And they'll have oftentimes discharge going from those and eyes. So raccoons, a lot of times we'll see ones that come in have like their eyes are crusted over from that discharge as well. So that's kind of a telltale sign of distemper.

Melinda
So these again, it's important to have your dog up to date on its distemper vaccine to protect them from the virus because they are really susceptible to this virus. If you notice animals, you know, in your yard or on your property are showing any of these signs. Obviously, for both diseases, it's important just to keep your pets out of that area to protect them. And then this virus doesn't infect people. So people are safe from this one. But because it can present like rabies and we won't know for sure what it is without diagnostic testing, it's still good to take precautions around animals showing these symptoms.

Eric
Yeah, I had a dog when I was young, probably around 7 or 8 years old, that got canine distemper and expensive vet bills. It did survive, you know, things, but it was in rough shape for for a while.

Melinda
Yeah, yeah, it's a rough one. It can take its toll on, an animal's body, I guess, if you know, to on these and I haven't mentioned yet, but a lot of times if you have these animals that, you know, you've seen the acting sick and have collected them and, you know, besides reporting, if you would like to get, you know, animal tested for canine distemper or rabies, that maybe wasn't an exposure but was acting sick on your property, you can always contact your local wildlife, health or wildlife field office, and they'll help get those specimens to our laboratory for diagnostic testing.

Eric
Yep. And if you call 517-284-9453, Heidi Perry or Emily are are happy to get you to the wildlife field office. That is closest to you for that help.

Melinda
So there's one final disease that we'll discuss today to finish up and that is bovine tuberculosis. And I'll I'll call it TB or BTB as well. And that is caused by a bacteria. So we'll talk about one more bacteria today. And the bacteria is Mycobacterium bovis. And it's very closely related to Mycobacterium tuberculosis which is the type of TB that humans are normally infected with.  Mycobacterium bovis on the other hand, was originally named for cattle because they were the primary host of this disease, but it can infect any mammal. In the early 1900s, there are really high TB rates, really across the US, but particularly here in Michigan. And it's estimated that sometime in the 1930s or 40s that it likely spilled over into our White tailed deer population up in the northeast part of our Lower Peninsula and through the National TB Eradication Program in the late 70s, they actually declared it eradicated in cattle through in Michigan. And so, you know, big celebration. We've gotten rid of TB. And in in the 70s, there had been one hunter harvested the deer that was submitted that had kind of like little lesions caused by TB. It's a respiratory disease.

Eric
So it's like you're talking like bumps in the cavity or on the lungs.

Melinda
Yeah. So bumps in the, on the lungs that one hunter noticed and he turned in to have tested and turned out to be TB because the cattle, you know, program was going well and there weren't really any cases showing up. You kind of thought, oh, this is just an anomaly. And it wasn't that much of a concern. And it wasn't until the mid 90s that a second hunter harvested a deer. Same condition and turned it in. And now it had supposedly been eradicated in the state for 15 years. And this one also had TB. So a little bit more of a eyebrows rise on that one of what was going on. So some surveys were taken and and we found that it was established up in the northeast part of the Lower Peninsula. So it's rare that it actually establishes in wildlife. It really takes a lot of conditions to come together in the right form for this to happen. Normally, you know, you can spill over to an animal or something, but it can die out on its own. But with deer, obviously they, you know, they do kind of herd up sometimes into family groups or they have different contacts with one another. But in addition, we also have when we have high wildlife densities or congregation or in, in ways that increase congregation. So this would typically be kind of food piles that increase congregations so these deer that maybe aren't normally in contact with one another now are, or they have increased contact that they wouldn't normally have because they're coming into these really focal feeding sites together as well. So so yes, deer do naturally congregate, but this just increases that increases that congregation to a degree that helps increase disease spread.

Eric
Yeah. Really there's it kind of goes back a little bit to when we were talking about botulism earlier. Right. It's not like removing those carcasses from the beach is going to stop the botulism altogether. But by removing those, you minimize its impact a lot more. And it's kind of the same thing with deer like, yeah, they're still going to get together. But you're not going to create a condition to where that disease is going to spread more easily and be more prevalent than what it.

Melinda
Is exactly. Yes. Any steps that you can take to reduce the, you know, amount of disease that's being transmitted is a so step in the right direction. So, so, you know, in Michigan then deer are really what's considered a reservoir host now. Now it is also in cattle in the state. So soon after it was discovered that it was in deer, they went back and said, hey, maybe we should have some cattle again. And and found it in cattle in the 90s as well. And so since then we have routinely test deer as well as cattle in that area. And so we see spill back from deer into cattle. But transmission can have happened both ways. So that can happen. You know, they share feeding grounds or if deer have access to the farm where the feed and water are available for the cattle and deer can get access to that. Obviously transmission can happen there and it can happen both directly and indirectly. Right. So animals can pass this disease to one another. So coughing, sneezing, saliva, these things we've talked about before or they can leave the bacteria in the environment on food stuffs or you know, you know it might be a bale hay or it could be, you know, a pile of corn that somebody put out. And they leave that bacteria behind. And then another animal comes in behind them and eats off of that same food pile and ingests the bacteria and, and subsequently becomes infected. So that can happen in two different ways. So we've had other animals in Michigan as well that have been infected with TB. These are mainly just spillover from deer too.

Melinda
So we've had a few elk that have tested positive for TB. Early on in the early 2000 we tested some different species just to see what was going on. And this would include bear, coyotes, raccoons. A lot of those were scavenging uninfected carcasses that, you know, they had found animals that had died. And and really, they don't maintain the disease themselves in their populations. TB is really a chronic disease. So it actually takes a long time and develops pretty slowly. And so infected animals can live with it for years without showing any symptoms. And during this time they can still be infectious, which means they're capable of spreading disease. And the bacteria really just replicates in the body and then slowly starts to spread. And so eventually, you know, you might to see loss of appetite and loss of body condition. And then you see that coughing and sneezing that comes along with it as well. And so once the disease progresses, we get to what we call an advanced stage of disease. And that's when you start to see it in the lungs. And the chest cavity. But only about three, actually less than 40% of the infected deer we see show signs in the chest cavity that a hunter would recognize. So why that's why we collect the heads off the animal to check lymph nodes, because that's where infection typically starts first. And so we're looking at the lymph nodes in the head for signs of infection. I talk to many hunters who are surprised when they, you know, find out that their harvested deer is positive because they know often to look in the chest cavity. They don't see anything. And so it's a good time to have a conversation about that and that that's a more advanced stage. And it's not a definitive way to tell that the animal's infected. And it is why we encourage hunters to turn their head in for testing.

Eric
Yeah. And so now when you're looking at those lymph nodes at the lab, you know, what are the telltale signs where you, you know, get down to the lymph nodes and you're looking at you're like, oh, this looks like it's probably got some TB.

Melinda
Yeah. So that's it's really it's a lesion in the lymph node, which is what you would think of as an abscess. So you would cut into it the lymph node and you would see this abscess material and it can be small moths like pinpoint pockets of abscess material. Or that lymph node can be enlarged, you know, three times its size and just just full of an abscess. And so different degrees of what you would see. It's not the same every time, but anything that looks like an abscess. Now, there are other types of non TB bacteria that could cause that. So if deer have other things going on they can get this. And so we will send those. And just to rule out TB. So just because we send a lymph node on doesn't necessarily mean it mean it will be TB. But we want to, you know, rule that out if it's not and make sure that we're giving the right diagnosis. And so I typically send a letter to hunters. And in that letter it'll either tell them that the initial tests were negative. But we're going to continue testing that animal to make sure that this is the correct test result. So it has to go through what's called a culture where they try to regrow that bacteria, and it's a slow growing bacteria. So the test takes like 6 to 8 weeks to complete. But in the end, if they can't regrow that TB bacteria, then they would say that it was not detected. And then on the other hand, if I think it looks like a lot of times I can tell by looking at the lymph node, yeah, this looks like a pretty good suspect. And we wait for those initial test results to come back. And in the letter we will tell the hunter then that at least one of the initial tests came back positive. But you know we've got to wait for the final results to make the call on it. So if you if you hunt in the northeast Lower Peninsula, we do encourage you to get your harvested deer tested. But we also do accept deer statewide for TB testing because this is again a zoonotic disease, meaning they can infect humans. If you are interested in having your deer examined for TB, we will accept it from anywhere in the state. And if you do harvest a positive deer and get a letter from me that states that it was positive, it will be recommended that you get a screening and you can do that TB screening yourself, and you can do that through your local health department or by talking to your physician. And it's really important because usually when someone's first infected, they have what's called latent TB, which means it's just dormant in your body. You don't have active disease. And this is an important time to find out about it, because there is treatment that will almost eliminate the chances of ever developing active disease later in life.

Eric
So this is kind of like the deer when you for the hunters being surprised the deer didn't look like it had TB. And you yourself it's like, oh, I don't look like I have TB.

Melinda
Yeah. So you know, the case you mentioned earlier on today about the person who has a child, you know, we were talking about hand feeding and deer and, you know, maybe having contact with a sick fawn that was being rehabilitated. They didn't find out they're infected until later in life. And they went for a pre-employment TB screening. And that's how they found out. And, you know, completely by surprise, right. That not something you would expect. And so in that case, obviously she didn't have any the exposures that she knew of or thought of at the time. But as a hunter, if it is important, like if you've had contact with this deer, you know, it's it's a pretty painless step. You can either get a little tiny injection in their skin or just get a quick blood draw. And that's how there's two ways to do it. And then you can, you know, have that peace of mind that you weren't exposed because, you know, there is treatment after the disease, sets in. But it's a lot harsher. And then you're going through all the symptoms of disease as well. So it's good to to get notified early on and get it taken care of. So with that, I just want to remind you again that you can read more about these diseases and more on our website at Michigan.gov/wildlifedisease. And at any time, if you see sick or dead wildlife, you'd like to report to us. You can use that online reporting form.

Speaker
There are many camping and lodging opportunities available in Michigan state parks. When you choose state park campgrounds, you get more than just a campsite. State parks offer a diverse range of recreational opportunities, including hands-on instructional classes, nature programs, places to fish, boat launches, family-friendly events, and much more. Reservations can be made six months in advance, so why wait? Visit my DNRreservations.com or call 1-44-PARKS to make a reservation.

Melinda
Now is your opportunity to win a WildTalk Podcast mug. As a thank you to our listeners will be giving away a mug or two every episode. Our May mug winners are Colleen Brissette and Joe Differ. Check your email as we'll be getting in touch with you soon. They answered the question. Michigan's elk were extirpated in the late 1800s and reintroduced in 1918. How many elk were used in that original reintroduction? And what national park did they come from? The answer was seven elk and from Yellowstone National Park.

Eric
Yellowstone.

Melinda
To be entered into the drawing this month. Test your wildlife knowledge and answer our wildlife quiz question. This month's question is, What species of bird is not affected by ingesting the botulism toxin? Due to its unique intestinal microbiota and specialized, highly acidic digestive system that is able to neutralize the toxin.

Eric
I love the the word microbiota.

Melinda
Email your name and answer to us at DNR-Wildlife@michigan.gov. To be entered for a chance to win a mug, be sure to include the subject line as 'Mug Me' and submit your answers by June 15th. We'll announce winners and the answer on next month's podcast, so be sure to listen in to see if you won and for the next quiz question. Good luck everyone!

Speaker 
Michigan Conservation officers are working hard to protect and keep the outdoors safe for current and future generations. If you witness a natural resources violation, you can call or text the Report All Poaching Hotline 24 hours a day at 1-800-292-7800, or fill out the complaint form available at michigan.gov/rap. If you would like more information on becoming a Conservation Officer, click on 'become a CO' at michigan.gov/conservationofficers.

Melinda
Thanks for joining us on this June edition of the WildTalk Podcast. Remember, if you have questions about wildlife or hunting, you can call (517) 284-9453 or email DNR-Wildlife@michigan.gov. We'll see you back here in July.

Speaker 
This has been the WildTalk Podcast, your monthly podcast airing the first of each month and offering insights into the world of wildlife across the state of Michigan. You can reach the Wildlife Division at (517) 284-9453 or DNR-Wildlife@michigan.gov.