An oiled grebe is washed by members of the Oiled Wildlife Care Network at its primary care facility in San Pedro, California following the Orange County oil spill in October.

News Bites

by Trina Wood
November 02, 2021

State Funding Boosts School Initiatives

Thanks to new state funding, the school will administer an annual $3 million unified effort to help animals during disasters throughout California. Other school programs received funding to increase the scope of their efforts as well, including $45 million in one-time support for a statewide Animal Shelter Assistance Program, and $1 million in ongoing funding to help combat invasive mosquitoes and arboviruses. Dr. Mike Ziccardi, director of the One Health Institute, appeared on NPR Capital Radio’s “Insight” show and several other media outlets to discuss how the school will lead disaster relief efforts in California. Known as the California Veterinary Emergency Team (CVET) and administered by the veterinary school, the new emergency program to help rescue animals in disasters will support and train a network of government agencies, individuals, and organizations to aid domestic animals and livestock during emergencies. CVET’s $3 million annual budget will create a network of state and county agencies and organizations charged with emergency response to help them organize, train, and adopt best practices. Ziccardi hopes to model the program after the successful UC Davis-led Oiled Wildlife Care Network, created in 1994 to mobilize volunteers and professionals to rescue and treat shorebirds and other wildlife that are injured during oil spills.

Meanwhile, the Koret Shelter Medicine Program (KSMP) received $45 million in additional state funding to provide grants and outreach for animal shelters over a period of five years. This state allocation reflects Governor Newsom’s commitment to providing resources that can help communities realize the state’s long-held policy that “no adoptable or treatable animal should be euthanized.” Finally, additional funding has been secured from the state for the California Vectorborne Disease Surveillance System (CalSurv), part of the national Vectorborne Disease Surveillance System (VectorSurv), which was formed by, among others, the Davis Arbovirus Research and Training Laboratory at the veterinary school. Mosquito control and public health agencies can utilize CalSurv (locally) and VectorSurv (nationally) to manage and analyze surveillance and control data related to invasive mosquitoes and arboviruses, including West Nile virus and St. Louis encephalitis virus.

Oiled Wildlife Given Second Chance

Responders with the UC Davis Oiled Wildlife Care Network (OWCN), a program managed by the school’s One Health Institute (OHI), provided veterinary care for animals impacted by the Orange County oil spill, which leaked at least 25,000 gallons of crude oil into the ocean since early October. More than 80 responders from 14 of OWCN’s 44 member organizations have been involved in the effort. Among the live birds recovered were grebes, a ruddy duck, sanderlings and federally threatened snowy plovers. The experience of sending healthy, formerly oiled birds back to their environment is the most rewarding of OWCN director Mike Ziccardi’s career. Ziccardi, who also directs the OHI, has responded to more than 50 oil spills. He told NPR’s Morning Edition: “When you can get an animal that comes in heavily coated…and actually see them fly off or swim off at the end of the spill, there is nothing better than that.”

Declining Racehorse Fatalities

The American Veterinary Medical Association and horse racing magazine Paulick Report both recently heralded the school’s efforts that contributed to a 50% decline in equine fatalities in California horse racing – from 144 to 72 over the past two years. For decades, the school has partnered with the California Horse Racing Board (CHRB) to make racing safer. From research on racetrack injuries, to drug testing, to the latest in advanced imaging technology, UC Davis and the CHRB have found innovative ways to successfully tackle some of the biggest challenges in horse racing with a focus on improvements to horse and rider safety. Thanks to research facilities like the J.D. Wheat Veterinary Orthopedic Research Laboratory, the Kenneth L. Maddy Equine Chemistry Laboratory, the Center for Equine Health, and the school’s groundbreaking launch of the world’s first equine PET scanner, UC Davis remains committed to continuing this productive partnership with CHRB and industry stakeholders. Together, they use science-based approaches to implement continued safety improvements for horses and humans alike.

'Natural Sugar' Linked to Health Risks

Consuming sucrose, the more “natural form of sugar,” may be as bad for your health as consuming high fructose corn syrup, according to a UC Davis study published in the Journal of Clinical Endocrinology and Metabolism. “This is the first dietary intervention study to show that consumption of both sucrose- and high fructose corn-sweetened beverages increase liver fat and decrease insulin sensitivity,” said Kimber Stanhope, a research nutrition biologist with the veterinary school. “People often have a skewed perspective of aspartame and give sucrose a pass, but this study suggests that consumers should be equally concerned about both major added sugars in our food supply.” Participants (18 to 40 years old) were assigned to beverage groups matched for sex, body mass index, fasting triglyceride, lipoprotein, and insulin concentrations. They drank three servings a day of either a sucrose-sweetened beverage, a high fructose corn-sweetened beverage, or an aspartame-sweetened beverage for 16 days. The 187 subjects lived in a clinical unit for 3.5 days before beverage consumption and during the final days of beverage consumption to control their diet and activity levels prior to the assessments of risk factors that occurred before and after beverage consumption.

"Within the span of two weeks, we observed a significant change in liver fat and insulin sensitivity in the two groups consuming sucrose-or high fructose corn syrup-sweetened beverages," Stanhope said. "That’s concerning because the prevalence of nonalcoholic fatty liver disease and Type 2 diabetes continues to increase globally." Stanhope said this study highlights the need for consumers to read labels carefully and be aware of the source of added sugars. Sucrose may be labeled as sugar, cane sugar, or evaporated cane juice among other names, but they’re all sugar.

A Helping Hand for Wildlife

When the Caldor Fire encroached on Lake Tahoe Wildlife Center (LTWC) this past summer, the staff had to quickly evacuate the many animals in their care, including Em – a bald eagle who has been a resident ambassador at the center since a wing injury in 2015. Staff and volunteers from both the LTWC and the California Raptor Center (CRC) at UC Davis met partway between Tahoe and Davis to transport a total of five raptors to the safety of the UC Davis School of Veterinary Medicine. Em settled in quickly to his new digs at the CRC with several perches, enrichment, and of course some delicious wild salmon. After 19 days, when the danger to his Tahoe home had passed, Em was transported home. As wildfires worsen across the West, the collaboration of veterinarians, rescue centers and skilled rehabilitators becomes more important to the survival of wildlife affected by the devastation. Last year, the university and the California Department of Fish and Wildlife co-founded the Wildlife Disaster Network (WDN). Team members have been busier than ever, treating animals from bears and coyotes to bobcats and flying squirrels. The Guardian published two feature stories about the WDN’s efforts, highlighting the importance of caring for these animals. Dr. Jamie Peyton helped spearhead the formation of the network and emphasized that animals can’t always get out of the way of these fires and even if they can, they may still need help. “Without human interference, these animals will suffer and succumb, due not only to their injuries but also to the loss of food, water and habitat,” Peyton told The Guardian. “It is our obligation to provide the missing link for the wildlife that share our home.” The WDN usually fields calls from first responders and then receives official authorization to go into fire zones to look for injured wildlife. Once captured, the animals are transported to appropriate facilities (depending on their species) where they may spend weeks or months receiving treatment, care for any wounds, and recovering. Some animals receive treatment of tilapia skin bandages and a specially formulated burn cream that Peyton helped to create. Acupuncture and cold laser therapies may also be used. The team has witnessed many severely injured animals recover sufficiently to be released back into the wild.