Now emerging and widely infectious forms of avian influenza are yet another serious threat-one that wildlife biologists say requires a new approach to disease management on farms, refuges, and landscapes nationwide. Wildlife already face unprecedented stressors, from drought to wildfire to habitat loss. Now it’s spreading widely among wild birds, which has far-reaching implications for wildlife and human health. “It’s behaving by a different set of rules,” says Bryan Richards, the emerging-disease coordinator at the National Wildlife Health Center. This year’s avian-flu outbreak-the first in North America since 2015-is caused by a version of this virus unlike any that virologists and wildlife managers have ever seen. Department of Agriculture confirmed: The avian flu’s H5N1 strain had finally reached California. Geological Survey’s National Wildlife Health Center lab for routine testing. That day, the biologists carefully collected several carcasses, including those of two Canada geese and two American white pelicans, and sent the remains on to the U.S.
But this year, there was added worry: A new and devastating strain of highly pathogenic avian influenza (HPAI) had been creeping west across the continent since December 2021, affecting millions of poultry and countless wild birds. In the summer months, avian botulism is a major concern in California’s Central Valley, and removing carcasses can stem its spread. The July 5 trip was routine: From the deck of an airboat, two wildlife biologists scanned the cattail marsh-one of many seasonal wetlands in the Sacramento National Wildlife Refuge-on their weekly lookout for sick or dead birds.
This article was originally published in High Country News.
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