The Wyoming Game and Fish Department is asking everyone, especially landowners, to report dead sage grouse to the Wyoming Game and Fish Department so the birds can be tested for West Nile virus.
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WYOMING – The Wyoming Game and Fish Department is asking everyone, especially landowners, to report dead sage grouse to the Wyoming Game and Fish Department so the birds can be tested for West Nile virus. While there are no signs of an outbreak, Game and Fish asks the public annually for reports to help in the management of the state’s sage grouse populations.
Certain mosquitoes spread West Nile virus, and research has shown sage grouse have a low resistance to the virus, which can be and is usually fatal to the birds. Evidence of the disease has been reported in past years in northeast Wyoming and in surrounding states.
Nyssa Whitford, the Wyoming Game and Fish Department’s sage grouse/sagebrush biologist, said that while this spring started out wet, the summer has been drier and less favorable for mosquitoes.
“We haven’t had an outbreak of West Nile in sage grouse since 2003 in northeast Wyoming. But monitoring for the disease is still important,” Whitford said.