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Berkeley officials sound alarm after 5 bats test positive for rabies

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Bat flying over a residential neighborhood beneath a cloudy dusk sky

Officials in the East Bay city of Berkeley have issued a warning to residents and doctors amid a rising number of bats that have tested positive for rabies. In a letter sent to the Berkeley City Council on Aug. 26, City Manager Paul Buddenhagen’s office said lab tests confirmed five rabies-positive bats were found. The bats were located in West and North Berkeley, both in residential and commercial areas.

“This represents an increase over the historical baseline of zero to two rabies-positive bats per year between 2020 and 2025,” said the city manager’s office. No human rabies cases have been identified in Berkeley, officials said. Separately, Alameda County health officials confirmed a rabies-positive cat in Pleasanton that tested positive on June 29. According to officials, rabies is a serious infection of the nervous system caused by the rabies virus. While rare, the disease is almost always fatal once symptoms appear.

The disease is almost entirely preventable if treated before symptoms begin. City officials offered several tips, including not touching or handling bats, keeping pets’ rabies vaccinations current and preventing bats from entering one’s home by sealing gaps and openings. If one is bitten or scratched by a mammal, officials urge residents to wash the wound with soap and water for 15 minutes and to seek medical attention.

Bites should be reported to the city’s Communicable Disease Prevention & Control Program (510) 981-5292 and Alameda County Vector Control at 510-567-6800. Officials also urged anyone who finds a bat indoors, dead or alive, not to release or dispose of the animal and to immediately contact vector control.

Source: Berkeley officials sound alarm after 5 bats test positive for rabies – CBS San Francisco

Set your mind on things above, not on things on the earth.
Colossians 3:2

Psalm 5:8

Lead me, O Lord, in your righteousness because of my enemies; make your way straight before me. In the verse David is praying in the morning while people…

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Payette Lake produces new state catch-and-release lake trout — again

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By now, if you follow Idaho Fish and Game’s stringer of record fish stories, you’re well aware that there’s one lake that comes to mind when you mention the words lake trout: Payette Lake. But if not, allow me to bring you up to speed. BRINGING BACK PAYETTE’S LAKE TROUTLake trout (also known as Mackinaw) were introduced into Payette Lake in 1955. These long-lived predators can survive for more than 40 years, grow beyond 40 inches in length, and exceed 50 pounds. As the stocked fish matured, the trophy fishery gained popularity. During the 1990s, it wasn’t uncommon for anglers to catch multiple lake trout over 15 pounds and occasionally fish exceeding 30 pounds in a single day.

By the early 2000s, lake trout abundance had increased dramatically, but there was a tradeoff. Overabundance of lake trout meant fewer food resources, leading to thin and undernourished lake trout that still reached decent lengths but more closely resembled eels than trophy freshwater fish. This also meant big declines in the kokanee population, the lake trout’s main diet. By 2014, fisheries managers recognized that action was needed. They began reducing the number of smaller lake trout to lessen predation on kokanee, but released trophy-sized fish. This increased kokanee survival and made more food available for the remaining trophy lake trout.

And the results paid off. Since 2018, staff have removed approximately 3,100 lake trout from Payette Lake, averaging roughly 445 fish per year. The condition of lake trout has also recovered, with Payette Lake producing five catch-and-release state records since 2016.

ACTUALLY, MAKE THAT SIX

Normally, we’re lucky to highlight one record fish per fishery per year, but again, if you’ve been following the Fish and Game newswire this summer, you might recall seeing Payette Lake in the headlines already this summer. Dylan Smith, the lucky Idaho Falls angler who caught a 43.25-inch laker back on May 2, barely had time to show off his crown to his friends. Pencils have erasers, thank goodness, because on July 8 of this year, Kim Anderson pulled out a 44-inch lake trout from none other than Payette Lake, earning himself the new state catch and release record. Anderson’s fish is now the third record in the last two years.

Source: Payette Lake produces new state catch-and-release lake trout — again | Northwest | idahostatejournal.com

For what shall it profit a man, if he shall gain the whole world, and lose his own soul?
Mark 8:36

A study of the Mesha Stele

The Mesha Stele, also famously known as the Moabite Stone, is a 3-foot-tall black basalt monument dating back to circa 840 BCE. It is one of the most vital archaeological…

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