U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention: Four Colorado Residents Have Been Infected by a Dog Spread the Pneumonic Plague

A plague-infected dog spread the dangerous disease to four Colorado residents, according to a new report from the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.

Health officials told ABC News that this is the first report of a dog infecting a human with the plague in the U.S.

The dog, a 2-year-old American pit bull terrier, became sick last summer with a fever and jaw rigidity, among other symptoms. The dog's health declined so quickly that it was euthanized the following day at a local vet's office, health officials said.

Four days later, the dog's owner entered the hospital with a fever and a bloody cough that became worse over the next few hours, but an initial blood culture was misidentified, according to the CDC report.

As the patient's symptoms grew worse, the test was redone and he was found to have been infected with pneumonic plague, according to the CDC report. The remains of the dog were also tested and were found to be positive for the plague bacteria.

"Frankly one of the biggest surprises of this outbreak is the source," said John Douglas of Tri-County Health Department in Colorado, one of the study authors. "Primarily...dogs don’t get sick at all or they get a minor illness" after being infected with the plague.

Janine Runfola of the Tri-County Health Department in Colorado, lead author of the report, explained that cats are more likely to infect humans with the disease than dogs because they exhibit more symptoms.

"For pneumonic plague a more likely scenario would be you have a cat [play] with prairie dogs and infected fleas get on the cat," Runfola said. "The cat gets sick and sneezes and coughs on its owner."

The dog's owner remained hospitalized for 23 days as he recovered from the potentially deadly disease, the report said. In addition to the owner, a close contact of the owner and two veterinary employees who treated the dog or handled its body also became infected with the plague. All three were successfully treated with medication after exhibiting symptoms.

The plague is caused by the bacteria Yersinia pestis, and can infect the body in different ways. For example, a flea bite can lead to infection of the glands, which is called bubonic plague -- notorious for the epidemics it spawned during the Middle Ages in Europe. Because this plague was spread from dog to owner through coughing, it developed into pneumonic plague, according to Douglas.

The plague is known to be endemic to prairie dogs in the American Southwest, which can then lead to isolated outbreaks of the disease in domestic animals or humans.

"Pneumonic plague is the worst form," said Douglas. "It’s the one that you least want to get. You get sick fast and the chances of getting a rocky or even fatal course" are increased.

The plague is incredibly rare in the U.S., with an estimated eight infections in the country reported every year. Douglas said pneumonic plague is even rarer and accounts for just 3 to 5 percent of plague cases.

Douglas said the case shows the importance of considering all the options when diagnosing a patient, even extremely rare options like the plague.

Animal Sanctuaries…A Safe Haven for Animals? Not Always the Case

While you would think a place named an “animal sanctuary” operates as a safe haven for animals, this is not always the case. There are many amazing animal sanctuaries for formerly abused farm, exotic and domestic animals, but sadly there are too facilities that operate under the “sanctuary” guise that exist with the sole purpose of exploiting animals. These false sanctuaries display wild animals and often charge visitors to interact with them. On the surface, they may seem like “fun” but more often than not the animals are starved, abused or drugged in order to render them docile enough to interact with paying customers.

Unlike these abusive establishments, Big Cat Rescue and the Center for Great Apes are real sanctuaries for animals. All of the big cats and chimps who live at these sanctuaries have been rescued from deplorable former lives and are now allowed to live free from any type of exploitation.

73-Year-Old, Ex-Marine and Bouncer Punches 300 Pound Bear in Face to Save Dog

They say a mother’s distress upon seeing her child in danger can give her the momentary strength to lift a car. And perhaps it was this same rush of adrenaline that drove Carl Moore as he leapt in to action to save his dog.

“I raised both hands in the air and I cussed at him” he said. “He looked at me like go f*** yourself.”

According to Moore, he then charged the bear and delivered a running right hand to the side of the bear’s head.

“Carl just smacks him. I couldn’t believe it” said his friend and employee, John Sargent who witnessed the event.

Tyler Silva was also there to see the action unfold and was shocked by his friend’s actions.

“I know I’ll never see that one again. He definitely connected. The bear took a breath out like it had been struck in the stomach and then it took off down the road,” he told the Auburn Journal.

Moore says he boxed competitively in his youth and also saw his fair share of fights while working as a bouncer but on this occasion, he says all he was trying to do was protect his dogs.

“The man or beast that I run from ain’t been born ... And you’re not gonna sacrifice my babies for some damn bear,” he told CBS Sacramento as he cuddled his pooch.

According to Moore, he heard his dog Lacy whimpering outside and went to investigate before seeing the black bear approaching the house.

The two witnesses were happy to corroborate the story, and described the animal as being about 160cm tall and 135 kilograms.

Unsurprisingly, state wildlife officials are not condoning Moore’s actions and are advising against instigating contact with black bears in the state. Instead, the official advice is to back slowly away from the animal and only yell aggressively towards the bear if it continues to approach.

“But if you’re attacked, we recommend fighting back aggressively,” said Capt. Patrick Foy from the California Department of Fish and Wildlife.

It may be no laughing matter but when CBS news anchor, Sam Shane introduced the story this week, he struggled to contain his giggles.

You can watch the report below.

Conservationists and Scientists Predict That 2.8 Percent of the World’s Species Are Currently Going Extinct Under Current Climate Conditions

Conservationists and scientists have long predicted that climate change would push species around the world into extinction. Now comes word that the problem may be even worse than was previously realized. According to a paper published Thursday in the journal Science, the rate of extinction will dramatically speed up for every degree temperatures rise.

“If we follow through the business as usual in terms of greenhouse gas emissions, then we get to the point where one in six species are threatened with extinction from climate change,” said the paper’s author, Mark Urban, an evolutionary biologist at the University of Connecticut.

Urban’s research analyzed more than 130 previously published papers covering how climate change and other factors, such as habitat loss, will affect species extinctions. The previous papers covered certain groups of species or specific geographic ranges but didn’t look at the planet as a whole. By conducting a meta-analysis of that earlier research, Urban said he was able to come up with an “an overall picture of extinction risk.”

Urban said he expected to find that climate change would be one of the major factors affecting species extinctions in the coming decades, but he was surprised to find out how quickly that risk would accelerate.

According to his calculations, 2.8 percent of the world’s species are currently predicted to go extinct under current conditions. If global temperatures rise 2 degrees Celsius, that risk will increase to 5.2 percent. If temperatures rise one more degree, the risk balloons to 8.5 percent.

And if we continue on our current trajectory, in which global temperatures are anticipated to rise 4.3 degrees Celsius, Urban calculated that the risk increases even more, to the point where 16 percent of the world’s species will go extinct.

Urban said his analysis illustrates that climate change will pose many dangers beyond the ones we talk about the most, such as sea-level rise and drought. “There’s another impact, and that’s on our biodiversity,” he said.

The risk that species face will vary around the world according to their habitats. Species in North America and Europe, Urban found, will face a 5 percent and 6 percent risk of extinction, respectively.

That risk leaps upward in areas with greater levels of native biodiversity. Australia and New Zealand will each lose 14 percent of their species, Urban calculated.

South America will be hit hardest—23 percent of the continent’s unique species will go extinct if the rate of climate change does not slow.

Outside of specific regions, species with limited ranges or a limited ability to move to new habitats will also face a higher extinction risk. These include amphibians and lizards, as well as many plants, insects, and mammals.

“One example is the American pika,” Urban said. The species lives on mountains in very specific temperature ranges. Moving upward as ground temperatures rise shrinks their available habitat and food. They can’t move down the mountain or cross the plains to another mountain because they die if they get too warm.

Urban found that for many species with limited ability to adapt to new habitats, the risk of extinction ranges from 80 to 100 percent.

Even with this meta-analysis, Urban found that more data will provide an even better picture of the future. Particularly needed is more information about species in Asia and how climate change will affect that region, he said.

More information is also required about species that have not been fully studied, as well as how climate change will affect specific regions. He said that will help us “to pinpoint those species like the American pika that are most at risk and then try to implement conservation strategies to protect the most at-risk species.”

Urban said this study should be a wake-up call for the international community to take climate change’s effect on wildlife seriously.

“Biodiversity is the foundation of our economy, our future, our health, and our food security,” he said.