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Obtain good specimens for
necropsy. Carcasses that are decomposed or scavenged are usually of
limited diagnostic value.
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Collect animals under the
assumption that an infectious disease or toxin is involved and other
animals may be at risk. Remember to protect yourself by using rubber
gloves when picking up dead animals. If you do not have gloves, insert
your hand into a plastic bag. Attach a leg tag to the carcass with the
following information:
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Place each animal in a plastic
bag, tie shut, then place inside a second bag and tie shut (more than one
individually bagged animal can be placed in the second bag). Double
bagging prevents cross contamination of individual species and further
contamination of the environment due to leakage from the shipping
containers.
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Place the bagged carcasses in a
cooler with ice/icepacks to preserve the tissues for testing.
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Ship birds in a hard-sided
plastic cooler or a Styrofoam cooler placed in a cardboard box.
Unprotected Styrofoam coolers break into pieces during shipment. Stuff
newspaper in any space between the sides of the box and cooler. A shipping
container can be made by lining a cardboard box with 1-inch thick pieces
of Styrofoam. Hard-sided plastic coolers will be returned if labeled with
your name and address in permanent ink.
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Line either type of cooler with
a large plastic bag and pack the individually bagged carcass(es) in the
cooler with enough blue ice to keep carcasses cold. Blue ice is preferred
to bagged wet ice to avoid leaking during shipment. Do not use dry ice
unless instructed to do so. Place crumpled newspaper or similar absorbent
material in the cooler with the bagged carcasses to fill unused space,
keep ice in contact with carcasses, provide insulation and absorb any
liquids. Tape cooler or box shut with strapping tape.
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Ship Monday through Wednesday
morning to guarantee arrival at the state laboratories before the weekend.
If specimens are fresh and need to be shipped on Thursday or Friday, you
must call to make special arrangements. Freezing and thawing can
make isolation of some pathogens difficult and damage tissues needed for
microscopic examination. Unfrozen specimens are preferred if they can be
sent within 24 hours of collection or death. If you are in the field and
cannot ship within 24-36 hours, freeze the bird(s).
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Label coolers. Note that in
addition to the laboratory address, you need to add DIAGNOSTIC SPECIMENS-
WILDLIFE. This label covers federal shipping regulations and also routes
the coolers with specimens to our necropsy entrance.
Department of
Health Laboratory-Tampa
Virology Department
3602 Spectrum Boulevard
Tampa, FL 33612
Attn: Dr. Lillian Stark
(813) 974-5990
Fax: (813) 974-5776
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Report information into the
Florida bird mortality database at
http://www.MyFWC.com/bird 
