Category: Research Results

In October the DWHC investigated the death of a roe deer fawn found in the Kromme Rijn area in the province of Utrecht. The fawn was thin and the tail and hind legs were soiled. Upon necropsy the cause of death was immediately apparent: a large acorn measuring 3,4 x 2,3 cm was found in the throat, blocking

In the summer and autumn of 2014 hundreds of dead squirrels were reported to the DWHC; observers described them as literally falling dead out of the trees. Investigations carried out by the Dutch Wildlife Health Centre (DWHC) and the Zoogdiervereniging (the Dutch Organisation for Native Mammal Research and

On the 10th of November Wageningen Bioveterinary Research (WBVR) reported that the bird flu detected earlier this week in tufted ducks and great crested grebes in the Netherlands belongs to the highly pathogenic H5N8 form of the virus.

In October 2016 tularemia re-surfaced in hares (Lepus europaeus) in the Kromme Rijngebied (province of Utrecht) and the Vijfheerenlanden region in the neighbouring province of Zuid-Holland. Evidence of the disease was found in hares submitted to the Dutch Wildlife Health Centre for postmortem investigations and

Hundreds of reports of dead blackbirds Usutu-virus detected in 8 Dutch provinces Joint message from the DWHC, Erasmus MC, Sovon, Vogeltrekstation NIOO-KNAW, Vogelbescherming

Usutu virus was recently detected for the first time in the Netherlands but has been circulating in Europe for some time. To-date it has been identified in captive great grey owls (Strix nebulosa) and in living and dead blackbirds (Turdus merula).

Since the first rabbit deaths in 2015 from the new rabbit virus, RHDV-2 (rabbit hemorrhagic disease virus 2) it has continued to cause deaths in wild and pet rabbits in the Netherlands.

After the discovery of the initial outbreak of ranavirus in the Netherlands in the Dwingerveld National Park in 2010 subsequent outbreaks have been closely monitored in order to better characterize the emergence of the disease and its potential ecological impact.

Duck plague was found to be the cause of death in three Muscovy Ducks (Cairina moschata) from Midden-Kennemerland, a region in North Holland.

In February 2016 a forest ranger reported finding a dead fox (Vulpes vulpes) in the Dutch province of Gelderland. As it was the fourth report out of this area over a short space of time the carcase was submitted for post-portem exam at the DWHC.