New and Ongoing Wildlife Mortality Events Nationwide

USGS and a network of partners across the country work on documenting wildlife mortality events in order to provide timely and accurate information on locations, species and causes of death.  This information is used by natural resource managers, researchers, public health officials and  legislators  to help design disease prevention and mitigation strategies, to address interconnections between human, domestic animal and wildlife disease, and to assist in identification of 'normal' disease issues vs. biosecurity concerns.

These data are not all-inclusive.  Information on some outbreaks may not be received until months or years after the event, but efforts continue to make the information as complete as possible. For information on previous wildlife mortality events and events that used to be on this page, please see the Quarterly Mortality Reports.

Date last updated : Apr 24, 2008

Explanation of fields:

Mortality begin date is the date the mortality began -- for most wildlife disease events, this is an estimate only, as carcasses may not be noticed immediately.

End date is again usually an estimate of the last day new carcasses were found.

State and country identify the area in which the mortality is occurring.  NOTE:  avian mortality events may cover several counties and possibly multiple states given the migratory nature of many species.

Species shown on the table include up to 5 of the species involved in the event.  In some cases, group identifiers like 'waterfowl' or 'shorebirds' have been used instead of specific names when a large number of different species are involved.

Diagnosis includes a final diagnosis, if known, with no qualifiers; a suspected diagnosis once preliminary investigations have been made; or an indication that tests are still in process.  NOTE:  In some instances, where mortality occurred but no specimens were sent to NWHC or another diagnostic laboratory or -- in rare instances -- where tests could not definitely identify a trigger for the mortality, the cause of death may never be determined.  Such events are identified with the word 'open' in the diagnosis column.

The estimated mortality provides some indication of the severity of the event.  Numbers may change rapidly from one week to the next.

The contact field provides the name of the individual to contact for more information about the mortality event.

NOTE: If you find a dead bird, mammal, reptile or amphibian, please contact your state natural resource agency first.  They will know the proper reporting procedures for your area.  Contact information may be found online or in the government pages of your local telephone book.