r/Ornithology • u/NerdyComfort-78 • 2d ago
Article Big cats dead from Bird Flu- use caution
https://apple.news/AN0JDQOHtTtqfGouQBMm3qw69
u/pigeoncote 2d ago
There was also a cat food recall in Washington County, OR after an INDOOR cat got bird flu. Now is a good time to stop feeding raw/whole food that contains poultry until further notice and keep an eye on cat food recalls. Scary stuff.
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u/Sethsears 2d ago
A few years ago, I worked at a wild bird facility. The facility mostly had native raptors in large, outdoor aviaries which looked like man-sized wooden cages. It was a popular place for local schools to do field trips, and sometimes we'd have summer camps and birthday party groups.
All of the birds at our facility had been deemed unreleaseable for medical reasons; usually deafness/blindness or an inability to fly. Most were car strikes, but the raven had been shot at. (My state has a short, legal crow-hunting season. Theory was that the hunter had made a false ID).
When the concern about avian flu began to emerge, we were warned to not let the groups of visitors get too close to the aviaries. I guess there was concern about the park's liability if a guest got sick. We were always told not to worry too much when we went to clean/feed the birds, though, because it apparently didn't jump to mammals. Now I wonder how accurate that was.
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u/handsinmyplants 2d ago
It hadn't jumped to mammals yet, but the potential for that mutation was always there. There aren't confirmed cases of human to human transmission yet, but there are a lot of human cases that cannot be traced. Folks who haven't had contact with any birds are getting it. But the virus can live on surfaces for longer than something like covid, so it is highly transmissible.
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u/NerdyComfort-78 2d ago
Not being snotty- but we are mammals, so it has made that change. The person to person has yet to happen.
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u/handsinmyplants 2d ago
Also not being snotty - I said it hadn't made the jump [then], referring to when the commenter was at that job. I did not state that it hasn't now made that jump. I think you misunderstood what I was saying, because I meant the same thing you said 👍🏼
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u/velawesomeraptors Bander 2d ago
As a bird bander this does make me a little nervous
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u/NerdyComfort-78 2d ago
Mask up, I guess?
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u/velawesomeraptors Bander 2d ago edited 1d ago
It's difficult to band birds while masking, but hopefully it's not detected in the species I'm working with.
EDIT: feel free to downvote, but I'm not coming at this from an anti-mask perspective. Certain data that we collect from the birds we capture (fat reserves, breeding condition, molt) are obtained by blowing on the feathers to look underneath. As of now, and many discussions were had on the topic during the pandemic, practical alternatives that work reliably in the field are difficult to find.
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u/stitchystitchstitch 2d ago
Why is this being downvoted? It’s possible to band birds with a mask on but certain data have to be cut (molt, breeding conditions) because you have to gently blow on the bird to see underneath the feathers. I am very pro masking but it’s a little more complicated than that.
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u/Kolfinna 1d ago
You don't have those little mini fans? They're cheap as hell. I get them free at events, some just attach to your cell phone. Maybe you need to try some trouble shooting
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u/velawesomeraptors Bander 1d ago edited 1d ago
The air needs to be very specifically directed and a mini fan would not be strong or precise enough. We had many discussions on this topic during the pandemic. Most of our potential solutions ended up with the need to bring an air compressor into the field, which isn't very practical (same goes for battery-powered devices). For the pandemic, distancing worked well enough since we work outside, but when the birds themselves can be infectious it gets more complicated.
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u/Slight-Carpenter-764 1d ago
Computer duster?
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u/velawesomeraptors Bander 1d ago
Comes out really cold and could harm their skin. In addition, birds are much more sensitive to gases/toxins in the air and the gas in a computer duster is probably toxic to them. That would be about the level of precision needed though.
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u/stitchystitchstitch 1d ago
If there are small fans that can be mounted (we need 2 hands) and are as precise as we would need to look at specific areas on very small birds (warblers, hummingbirds, etc.) then that could work. They would also need to be taken out into the field. It could work I just haven’t seen it in practice before.
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u/ArtistAnimalAlliance 2d ago
Well people’s pets die?
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u/Kolfinna 1d ago
Pets, exotics, wildlife, livestock... Yes
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u/ArtistAnimalAlliance 1d ago
Sorry for sneaking politics in an ornithology Reddit but if the government gets more lax on dealing with viruses much more pets will die then those “supposedly” being “eaten” /s in Springfield Ohio.
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u/scruntdouble 22h ago
politics being a dirty word is, imo, silly. and that's not to discount any of your concerns because i share the same ones. one of my favorite quotes came from a poli-sci course i took in college. politics and government are like soylent green: "it's people!"
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