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Flu:
The Story Of The
Great Influenza Pandemic
by Gina Kolata

Includes an account (pp 281-283) of the dying off of thousands of dolphins off the east coast of the US back in 1988. Naturally this was attributed indirectly to pollution by way of red tide. This is the version I've heard a number of times. As this problem was studied one researcher looked at the available evidence and suggested that it was morbillivirus which causes measles in humans and distemper in dogs. Other creatures experiencing similar unexplained dieoffs included seals in a lake in Siberia, harbor seals in northern Europe, striped dolphins in the Mediterranean, and by 1993 the agent, whatever it was, had reached dolphins in the Gulf of Mexico.

Using PCR, one of the methods used in forensic labs and in the human genome project, the morbillivirus RNA was isolated from tissue samples. This was conclusive in 1993. I'm sure the response from the ecoterrorists would be that the dolphins were only vulnerable because of the pollution, or because of the red tide which had accelerated due to pollution. Not realizing, or caring, that:

the outbreak was also found in an inland Siberian lake
that it had crossed between species
that epidemics have been occurring since long before humans walked the Earth, and will be around long after we're gone

On p 214 is this interesting quote from Ann Reid, the technician who worked on 1918 lung tissue samples for a full year until she found surviving viral DNA. The possibility exists that this work will contribute to a better understanding of influenza and prevent future flu pandemics, or at least the high mortality rates. "It's a very hierarchical field. I have had experiences before this where someone will be talking to me and will say, 'where did you postdoc?' I tell them that I did not postdoc and they would turn around and walk away."
From p 216 -- "...to Taubenberger's amazement, upon receiving his paper, Nature sent it right back, rejecting it without even mailing it to experts for review... Science magazine, apparently, was just as aloof... Why? Perhaps the scientists looking at the paper questioned the group from the Armed Forces Institute of Pathology... Only after some senior scientists intervened on Taubenberger's behalf was his paper sent out for review. Then, he said, the reviewers were enthusiastic about the paper and it was accepted for publication."