Growing concern avian flu could spread to Manitoba: ‘It’s just a matter of time’

There’s a growing number of cases of the highly infectious avian influenza emerging in Canada, leaving many wildlife organizations concerned.

Spread of the disease is largely blamed on the droppings or nasal discharge of infected wild birds, such as ducks and geese, which can contaminate dust and soil.

Lisa Tretiak, the president and co-founder of the Prairie Wildlife Rehabilitation Centre, believes it’s just a matter of time before Manitoba’s wildlife – and possibly its poultry farms – will be threatened.

“We have been getting reports from the United States, so right now we know it’s as close as North Dakota, just near the U.S. border, the U.S.-Canada border. So that’s making us quite concerned,” said Tretiak.

“We’re expecting that these birds are going to migrate from the United States up into Manitoba, which is then going to spread the virus. It makes us quite concerned because this virus is highly contagious and can potentially be fatal to certain species of birds.”

Tretiak says there is a substantial worry the wild birds could pass the virus to poultry farms.

The bird flu has already ripped through four commercial poultry farms in southern Ontario in less than a week.

READ: Avian flu detected on third farm in southern Ontario

The Canadian Food Inspection Agency says 24 countries have temporarily banned imports of birds or poultry products from parts of Canada – and in some cases, from the whole country – as a result of the outbreaks.

“It’s really important that we’re educating the public on discouraging and feeding right now, especially if you’re near any farms, not to visit them,” she said. “They’ll have high biosecurity features at their farms, but we don’t want to encourage it to be spread anywhere else because it is 100 per cent fatal to poultry. And we don’t want to affect our farmers here in Manitoba.”

Currently there are zero cases reported of the avian influenza in Manitoba, however the wildlife organization expects this to change in the coming of weeks.

“It’s just a matter of time. It is spotted in North Dakota, so we’re just waiting and ensuring that if it does come into Manitoba that everyone is prepared and ready to take more precautions.”

In the United States, farmers had to kill about 22 million egg-laying chickens, 1.8 million broiler chickens, 1.9 million pullet and other commercial chickens, and 1.9 million turkeys as of last week. Iowa accounted for many of those cases.

Because the virus is so infectious and deadly for commercial poultry, entire flocks are destroyed and composted on the farms when they are infected.

Tretiak warns Manitobans when encountering injured animals. She says people should contact the organization if they notice various symptoms in birds such as sneezing, trouble walking, seizures, and many dead bodies. Once the organization is contacted, it will investigate the area as well as the risks.

“If they can’t get a hold of us or they’re wanting to capture the animal because it’s in a high, dangerous situation, that they wear rubber gloves or have some type of examination gloves so that they can keep their hands protected and that they have cardboard boxes,” said Tretiak.

—With files from The Canadian Press and The Associated Press.