On Sep. 18 '02 at 22:48 (10:48 p.m. Eastern time in NJ), I found a story from the Reuters news agency on the AOL service;
excerpts follow;
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(...)"first reported West Nile virus deaths among dog and squirrel species"(...)"College of Veterinary Medicine at the University of Illinois said"(...)"three squirrels whose deaths were also believed to be the first in the country attributed to the virus."(...)"I think our squirrel population is going to take a hit."(...)"John Andrews, director of the college's Veterinary Diagnostics Laboratory."(...)" precautions should be taken around squirrels that might be acting funny"(...)"whose health may be compromised by other immune-related diseases"(...)"if someone sees a squirrel exhibiting nervous, disease-like behavior and then it dies, state wildlife officials should be told"(...)"Andrews said researchers doubt that infected squirrels develop sufficiently high concentrations of the virus in their bloodstreams to transmit it back to either mosquitoes or humans, though the matter is still under investigation."(...)
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I aopologize for using direct copy but I consider this something that fellow hunters MUST see and investigate.
-BB-