• Email Us: [email protected]
  • Contact Us: +1 718 874 1545
  • Skip to main content
  • Skip to primary sidebar

Medical Market Report

  • Home
  • All Reports
  • About Us
  • Contact Us

Aggressive Rabid Moose Becomes The First Ever Detected In Alaska

June 9, 2023 by Deborah Bloomfield

The first rabid moose in Alaska was announced by the Department Of Fish And Game after an animal was found stumbling, drooling, and acting aggressively on June 2. Rabies in moose is rare, but not unheard of, and this latest case marks a historic first for the US state.

“The moose was unbalanced, stumbling, drooling profusely, and had bare patches of skin,” said Doug Vincent-Lang, commissioner of the Alaska Department Of Fish And Game, in a statement. “Staff in Nome consulted with ADF&G wildlife veterinarian Dr. Kimberlee Beckmen and dispatched the animal that afternoon due to its aggressive behavior and signs suggestive of rabies disease.”

Advertisement

A necropsy was performed to establish the cause of death, and samples confirmed the presence of rabies virus in the moose’s brain. With the aid of the Centers For Disease Control And Prevention, they were able to pinpoint the rabies virus as a variant found in Arctic foxes.

Rabies has been spreading for Arctic foxes this past winter, and it’s most likely the moose contracted the illness from one of these animals. The discovery means that from now on, brain samples will be taken from wild mammals found dead to search for further cases of this devastating illness.

It’s a first for Alaska, but there have been moose with rabies found elsewhere in the world.

“Rabies diagnoses in moose are rare, but there have been moose diagnosed with rabies in South Dakota, Minnesota, Canada and Russia,” continued Vincent-Lang. “In Alaska, only those moose with neurologic signs are screened for rabies (along with other potential causes of brain inflammation, such as Chronic Wasting Disease, parasite migrations, or toxicities).”

Advertisement

Fortunately, moose are solitary animals so a rabies outbreak following one infected individual is unlikely. However, people should still be on the lookout for moose behaving strangely in ways that could indicate a rabies infection.

Symptoms of rabies include:

  • Excessive drooling
  • Stumbling
  • Aggression
  • Bite marks, which may be how they contracted the disease

The case is a reminder of why it’s crucial to get domestic cats and dogs vaccinated against rabies as it’s one of the most critical steps in avoiding the virus spreading to humans. Pets in areas with Arctic foxes are at particular risk, so it can also be useful to not leave trash and other animal attractants outside your home.

If you’re concerned you may have been bitten by a pet or a wild animal with rabies, the Alaska Department Of Fish And Game recommend you immediately wash the wound with soap and seek medical attention. Rabies can be prevented if you get treatment quickly, so it’s important to get help as soon as possible, even if you’ve been vaccinated.

Advertisement

[H/T: Tri-City Herald]

Deborah Bloomfield
Deborah Bloomfield

Related posts:

  1. Take Five: Big in Japan
  2. Struggle over Egypt’s Juhayna behind arrest of founder, son – Amnesty
  3. Exclusive-Northvolt plots EV battery grab with $750 million Swedish lab plan
  4. New Record Set With 17 People In Earth Orbit At The Same Time

Source Link: Aggressive Rabid Moose Becomes The First Ever Detected In Alaska

Filed Under: News

Primary Sidebar

  • The Longest Living Mammals Are Giants That Live Up To 200 Years In The Icy Arctic
  • Entirely New Virus Detected In Bat Urine, And It’s Only The 4th Of Its Kind Ever Isolated
  • The First Ever Full Asteroid History: From Its Doomed Discovery To Collecting Its Meteorites
  • World’s Oldest Pachycephalosaur Fossil Pushes Back These Dinosaurs’ Emergence By 15 Million Years
  • The Hole In The Ozone Layer Is Healing And On Track For Full Recovery In The 21st Century, Thanks To Science
  • First Sweet Potato Genome Reveals They’re Hybrids With A Puzzling Past And 6 Sets Of Chromosomes
  • Why Is The Top Of Canada So Sparsely Populated? Meet The “Canadian Shield”
  • Humans Are In The Middle Of “A Great Evolutionary Transition”, New Paper Claims
  • Why Do Some Toilets Have Two Flush Buttons?
  • 130-Year-Old Butter Additive Discovered In Danish Basement Contains Bacteria From The 1890s
  • Prehistoric Humans Made Necklaces From Marine Mollusk Fossils 20,000 Years Ago
  • Zond 5: In 1968 Two Soviet Steppe Tortoises Beat Humans To Orbiting Around The Moon
  • Why Cats Adapted This Defense Mechanism From Snakes
  • Mother Orca Seen Carrying Dead Calf Once Again On Washington Coast
  • A Busy Spider Season Is Brewing: Why This Fall Could See A Boom Of Arachnid Activity
  • What Alternatives Are There To The Big Bang Model?
  • Magnetic Flip Seen Around First Photographed Black Hole Pushes “Models To The Limit”
  • Something Out Of Nothing: New Approach Mimics Matter Creation Using Superfluid Helium
  • Surströmming: Why Sweden’s Stinky Fermented Fish Smells So Bad (But People Still Eat It)
  • First-Ever Recording Of Black Hole Recoil Captured During Merger – And You Can Listen To It
  • Business
  • Health
  • News
  • Science
  • Technology
  • +1 718 874 1545
  • +91 78878 22626
  • [email protected]
Office Address
Prudour Pvt. Ltd. 420 Lexington Avenue Suite 300 New York City, NY 10170.

Powered by Prudour Network

Copyrights © 2025 · Medical Market Report. All Rights Reserved.

Go to mobile version