Avian flu found in waterfowl at Roeding Park in Fresno. Staff safeguards birds at zoo
The Chaffee Zoo in Fresno said Monday two birds recently died from avian influenza at Roeding Park, and that staffers are taking precautions to protect the nearby zoo’s animals from the highly infectious disease.
While the disease can only rarely affect humans, avian flu can spread easily among birds and waterfowl. The zoo said its team has been monitoring the virus since it showed up in California earlier this year.
“While this is a highly infectious disease, our teams enacted our safety plan months ago for this very scenario,” Chief Veterinary Officer Dr. Shannon Nodolf said in a news release. “We are protecting all of our birds and will continue to monitor the level of risk to take further precautions.”
After the bird flu was found in California, the release said, zoo officials decided to close off access to aviaries and move birds found outside of the aviaries to alternative housing.
The disease commonly spreads among cramped flocks on poultry farms, but is equally as deadly to wild birds as to those in captivity.
The first commercial poultry farm to detect the disease was in Fresno County in August, when the producer euthanized 34,000 chickens to prevent further spread.
The U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention reported one case of a human contracting the disease in May, which officials said was a prison inmate in Colorado working with chickens as part of a pre-release program.
Bird flu had previously been detected since January in other states, with the largest effect in Iowa. In all, almost 48 million domesticated birds in the country have tested positive.
Wildlife officials have urged bird owners to not allow wild birds into enclosures with domestic birds or to allow wild and domestic birds to share food or water.
