Background Articles

The H5N1 bird flu virus has recently been detected in Alaskan wildlife, primarily affecting species like geese, ducks, and eagles. No human cases have been reported, but it poses a significant risk to domestic poultry flocks.

As bird flu cases go underreported, health officials risk being slow to notice if the virus were to become more contagious. A large surge of infections outside of farmworker communities would trigger the government’s flu surveillance system, but by then it might be too late to contain.

In recent weeks, three human infections with the virus have been confirmed—all in dairy workers who had contact with sick cows. All three developed symptoms of eye infections known as conjunctivitis. The latest case, reported in Michigan this week, also involved respiratory symptoms more typical of a flu infection.

This article examines the unique spread of bird flu across multiple animal species, marking an unusual animal pandemic.

Countries including South Korea, Japan, Australia, and the Phillipines have halted imports of Swedish pork following the recent discovery of African swine fever. 7 dead wild boars have now been confirmed infected.

The Copper River Basin in Alaska has experienced less reliable snow and ice conditions in recent years, impacting winter activities such as trapping, hunting, and gathering firewood. This study, based on nine oral interviews with local residents, reveals that crossing rivers has become more treacherous and difficult, with significant changes in ice conditions observed since the 1970s. Decreased snowpacks and increased shrub growth have also posed obstacles for accessing winter trails, requiring individuals to cut through forests. These changes, combined with socio-economic and technological factors, have affected the way people engage in winter activities in the Copper River Basin. Overall, this research contributes to the understanding of climate change's impact on winter activities in Alaska and the Circumpolar North.

The nation's six million feral pigs are destroying crops and preying on endangered species. But the most serious threat they pose is to human health.

Avian flu outbreak in Washington prompts cull of over 1 million eggs. This has led to a shortage of eggs in urbans areas such as Anchorage and rural communities in Alaska. The egg-shortage adds to the Covid-19 supply chain issues.

As cases of avian flu continue to spread across Canada, B.C. poultry farmers are implementing quarantine measures from the highly infectious virus that can cause mass death in chicken flocks.

Drought and extreme heat that scientists link to climate change are altering the UNESCO-protected marshlands. Iraq's average annual temperatures are increasing at nearly double the rate of Earth's.

In one of the planet’s coldest places, 130 kilometers south of Russia’s Arctic coast, scientist Sergey Zimov can find no sign of permafrost as global warming permeates Siberia’s soil. As everything from mammoth bones to ancient vegetation frozen inside it for millennia thaws and decomposes, it now threatens to release vast amounts

Experts raise concerns about residents who refuse to evacuate as ‘huge explosion’ reported at La Soufriere volcano. The volcano, which last erupted in 1979, began spewing copious amounts of ash on Friday.

In the village of Seyakha on the Yamal Peninsula, from last November from 60 to 80 thousand reindeer have died. The animals, on which the survival of the indigenous people depends, cannot get food - the lichen is covered with an ice crust. What is the reason and why the locals are dissatisfied with the support of the authorities?

Barnehage, sjukeheim, rådhus, legesenter, barneskule, vass- og avløpssystem, eit bustadfelt og ei av hovudfartsårene inn til Gjerdrum er sett ut av spel.

Why the "Cluster 5" coronavirus mutation in fur farms has led to a nationwide cull and a political outcry.

People carried the coronavirus onto mink farms in the Netherlands, starting a viral back-and-forth that ended up with 68% of fur farm workers and their close associates infected, researchers reported Tuesday.

CLIMATE change can be fought by releasing herds of large animals into the Arctic, researchers have bizarrely found.

The grazing crisis in reindeer herding, the corona situation and the work on the Norwegian-Swedish Reindeer Grazing Convention was the theme of the meeting between Minister of Agriculture and Food Olaug Vervik Bollestad (KrF) and Sami Parliament President Aili Keskitalo.

On Friday 13 March, the Directorate of Agriculture paid out NOK 2 million from the emergency preparedness fund. The funds go to the Middle and Eastern Zone in Western Finnmark reindeer grazing area. 160 000 animals within the Sami reindeer grazing area have now been affected by the grazing crisis.

Specially adapted bees and overwintering procedures help mitigate the cold.