Questions to Dr. Madis

Wildlife Specialists Talking about Their Area of Expertise
Jo UK
Site Admin
Posts: 20682
Joined: September 20th, 2008, 1:40 am
Location: Winchester, UK

Re: Questions to Dr. Madis

Post by Jo UK »

Chimega wrote:I will do this, too. I will write letters and also sign any petition you come up with for us to sign. Hopefully, they will listen to us. Maybe I should post this in the raptor groups I belong to on Facebook and ask people to write, too? Would that be ok with everyone? Let me know as I will not post in the groups about this until I hear back on here.
Yes, pleae, Chimega. The more people who know about this and write to the Environment Ministry, the better.
Madis
Registered user
Posts: 29
Joined: July 3rd, 2012, 9:48 am

Post by Madis »

More about lead, its dumb toxic to any living animal including humans. There's no organ in body what would excrete lead on a regular basis. Mammals do excrete lead through milk but for young organisms, lead is even more hazardous. There are some good pics and videos on http://www.biologicaldiversity.org/camp ... mages.html (ps. those eagle and vulture patient pictures from Wildlife Center of Virginia where my patients also, and even doh we operated on the eagle 09-2530 to get the lead bullets out of her stomach, she did not make it afterwards, too much led had absorbed already. Its dumb hard to get them back!)
The big problem is if hunters leave their shot prey to nature or the part of animal what the bullet traveled through, it will be eaten by other animals and they will get lead toxicosis and die. After that other animals come to eat the dead animal and will ingest tissues contaminated or fragments of lead and will end up getting toxicosis and so on and on. It kills silently a lot and we don't even know how much! Field study's show that with active surveillance for dead corpses we recover under 1% of dead animals what have been left in a study area so we always actually work wit the tip of the iceberg.
Now if i go back kin time in the end of 2008 and beginning of 2009 there where lot of dead eagles found in Estonia and two of them where set to Finnish lab to determinate the causes of death.

Sample 1:
White-tailed eagle, juvenile, male, weight 3,75 kg, found dead in Valma, Viljandimaa, Estonia, 14.1.2009,
Diagnosis:
Sepsis (systemic inflammation) caused by bacterium Streptococcus dysgalactiae ssp. equisimilis.
Mild parasitic pneumonia.
Sarcocystis sp. (protozoan parasite) in heart muscle.
Lead pellets in abdominal air sac wall
Lead concentrations of liver and kidney below toxic level.

Sample 2:
White-tailed eagle, adult, female, weight 4.9 kg, found dead in Lindi, Pärnumaa, Estonia, 9.1.2009,
Diagnosis:
Necrotic enteritis caused by the bacteria Clostridium perfringens type A and Escherichia coli.
Visceral gout (accumulation of urate in the organs due to renal failure).
Lead pellets in oesophagus and gizzard.
Lead concentrations of liver and kidney above toxic level.


Yes.. there is a problem and we have collected quite few dead eagles over the years (I have around 10 and Eagleclub has some more) so what I will be working with those upcoming year to determinate the causes of death. I do know that some of them have lead bullets in their stomachs :(
--
Madis Leivits, DVM
President - Estonian Veterinary Association
Veterinarian - Estonian University of Life Sciences
User avatar
Chimega
Registered user
Posts: 3063
Joined: July 12th, 2012, 7:49 am
Location: Iowa

Post by Chimega »

Jo UK wrote:Yes, please, Chimega. The more people who know about this and write to the Environment Ministry, the better.
You bet, Jo. I am getting the information ready to post on those boards right now, along with what happened to Nimeta and the correct snail mail and email addresses to send to. I am pretty sure we will get a lot of support from those groups as they are very much wanting to save the lives of all eagles, world-wide.
The woods are lovely, dark, and deep,
But I have promises to keep,
And miles to go before I sleep,
And miles to go before I sleep.
User avatar
Starling
Registered user
Posts: 4377
Joined: July 2nd, 2012, 9:16 pm
Location: Helsinki, Finland

Post by Starling »

Great, Chimega. Somehow I knew you would take action with this matter! :thumbs:
User avatar
Chimega
Registered user
Posts: 3063
Joined: July 12th, 2012, 7:49 am
Location: Iowa

Post by Chimega »

Jo UK wrote:Dr. Madis, I have several times read about birds with damaged or diseased beaks being given prosthetic beaks.

Recently, we read that there are magnetite sensors in the skin of the upper beak which are necessary for the bird's direction of travel. http://rspb.royalsocietypublishing.org/ ... /2227.full

How will veterinary procedure now adapt to that knowledge to protect the bird's ability to navigate, if it is given a prosthetic beak? I don't know if current methods even include the skin of the upper beak.

Here is a video of a bald eagle, shot in the face and supplied with a prosthesis in 2005. I can't tell if the skin area was involved or not!
http://www.huffingtonpost.co.uk/2012/09 ... 69781.html
Hi Jo and everyone,

This eagle's name is Beauty and I have seen a lot of information about her. I do believe I read that recently, her artificial beak fell off or came loose and fell off. The place who are caring for her have realized that she will not be able to be released back into the wild. :cry:
The woods are lovely, dark, and deep,
But I have promises to keep,
And miles to go before I sleep,
And miles to go before I sleep.
User avatar
Chimega
Registered user
Posts: 3063
Joined: July 12th, 2012, 7:49 am
Location: Iowa

Post by Chimega »

Starling wrote:Great, Chimega. Somehow I knew you would take action with this matter! :thumbs:
Yes, I am an activist. :nod: :D
The woods are lovely, dark, and deep,
But I have promises to keep,
And miles to go before I sleep,
And miles to go before I sleep.
User avatar
Chimega
Registered user
Posts: 3063
Joined: July 12th, 2012, 7:49 am
Location: Iowa

Post by Chimega »

Where is the email address that we can send a message to someone about Nimeta and what happened, there in Estonia? I know it was here before and now I can't locate it. Also, who is the email going to? Name of person or organization, please? :innocent:
The woods are lovely, dark, and deep,
But I have promises to keep,
And miles to go before I sleep,
And miles to go before I sleep.
Jo UK
Site Admin
Posts: 20682
Joined: September 20th, 2008, 1:40 am
Location: Winchester, UK

Post by Jo UK »

Chimega wrote:Where is the email address that we can send a message to someone about Nimeta and what happened, there in Estonia? I know it was here before and now I can't locate it. Also, who is the email going to? Name of person or organization, please? :innocent:
I don't know of an e-mail address but we have started a new topic - not yet complete -It was called About Nimetu but is seems to have changed it name!!
viewtopic.php?p=181700#p181700
The address you want is there
User avatar
Chimega
Registered user
Posts: 3063
Joined: July 12th, 2012, 7:49 am
Location: Iowa

Post by Chimega »

OK, I found the email address and posted it on the new thread. :thumbs:
The woods are lovely, dark, and deep,
But I have promises to keep,
And miles to go before I sleep,
And miles to go before I sleep.
Jo UK
Site Admin
Posts: 20682
Joined: September 20th, 2008, 1:40 am
Location: Winchester, UK

Post by Jo UK »

About Nimetu, From Dr. Madis's Topic.

viewtopic.php?f=8&t=526&p=181692#p181692

In order to keep this topic clean, we have started a new topic for discussion about Nimetu and how we want to approach the Estonian Ministry for the Environment.
Please continue the discussion there.
Thank you.

It seems that some posts may have been lost in the move. Please post again on the new topic, if needed.
Post Reply

Return to “Interviews with Specialists”