Did you know Feb. 24 through March 2 is Bird Health Awareness Week? USDA’s Animal Plant Health and Inspection Service (APHIS) invites you to celebrate by joining poultry experts on a webinar called, “Growing Chicks Into Healthy Chickens: Getting Ready for Spring,” to be held on Thursday, Feb. 28 at 2 p.m.  This webinar is hosted by the Chicken Whisperer, an Extension veterinarian and an APHIS veterinarian. Registration is required and details are here.

The Chicken Whisperer raises backyard birds in rural Georgia.  He started years ago with a few hens and ducks, and this year is starting a new flock of 40 birds at his new home. Andy Schneider (the Chicken Whisperer’s real name), has helped countless bird lovers with their own flocks, has a radio show about backyard bird care, and runs the Atlanta Backyard Poultry MeetUp group which has over 1,600 members. Read more »

Dr. Muhammad Afzal of the UN Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) holds a bottle of Foot and Mouth Disease (FMD) vaccine to show it becomes cloudy when it warms and is no longer usable. USDA helps keep FMD vaccinations cold and viable through its Program for the Progressive Control of Foot and Mouth Disease (FMD) in Pakistan.

Dr. Muhammad Afzal of the UN Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) holds up a bottle of Foot and Mouth Disease (FMD) vaccine to show what happens when the cold chain is broken. The vaccine is spoiled, cloudy with precipitates and no longer effective. Fortunately, this was a test bottle and 500,000 additional doses of vaccine are safely stored in a modern cold room provided by USDA as part of its Program for the Progressive Control of FMD in Pakistan.  Read more »

The emerald ash borer continues to expand its range in eastern forests and urban areas.

The Forest Service is making it easier than ever to report the spread of insects that have invaded America’s national, state, private and urban forests.

Forest Health Protection has released Version 2 of its mapping and reporting portal.  Built on the latest technology, the portal is an interactive and engaging complement to the agency’s Major Forest Insect and Disease Conditions annual reports. Read more »

Mosquito on human skin.

USDA is taking its battle against bad bugs “to the streets.”  USDA’s Agriculture Research Service (USDA-ARS) is seeking public input in fighting insect pests, many of whom may, in public opinion, top the lists as public nuisance number one—like bedbugs and mosquitoes. Read more »

Meet Frehley, a Border Collie rescued from the Seattle Animal Shelter who climbed the Jemez Mountains, clambering over rocks to track rare salamanders. Photo credit: Center for Conservation Biology.

Shelter dogs that are often rejected are getting a new lease on life. Plus they’re helping wildlife and people!  These conservation canines climbed the Jemez Mountains, clambering over rocks, running from smell to smell, to track where rare Jemez salamanders, a species found nowhere else in the world, are living in New Mexico. Read more »

APHIS plant health specialists investigate for Emerald Ash Borer.

For centuries, the Mohawk community of the Akwesasne (pronounced AHG – weh – SAUCE – knee) have created traditional basketry from the abundance of ash trees found along the St. Lawrence Seaway and the Thousand Islands area in New York.

But for the last three years, the trees and the matchless creativity of the Akwesasne have been threatened by a particularly harmful insect called the Emerald Ash Borer. Read more »