Flu the Coop

Ever since COVID-19 made the scene, it has been the subject of immense concern among zoo and aquarium professionals.  Not only can it make visitors and staff members sick, but it has the potential to sicken, in some cases kill, the animals that we care for.  Fortunately, many zoos are used to working around zoonotic diseases (diseases which can be transmissible between humans and animals), and already have biosecurity parameters in place.  Which is just as well because, as events this past week have shown, COVID isn't the only risk to animal health that we're having to deal with.

Avian influenza poses a serious threat to birds, both in the wild and under human care.  In the later cases, we tend to worry about it mostly in the poultry industry, where huge numbers of birds are housed together in close quarters, and disease can spread like wildfire.  It is no less of a concern, however, for zoo birds, which could potentially catch the disease from wild birds flitting in and out of their enclosures.  Currently, the disease has been documented in the eastern US, so facilities are taking precautions.

The North Carolina Zoo, for instance, has closed its aviary to the public. Sylvan Heights Bird Park has gone a step further and shut down the whole facility temporarily.  Other zoos have implemented travel restrictions on staff or are limiting which keepers have access to potentially vulnerable birds.  Keeping animals healthy takes constant vigilance and adjusting to changing circumstances.  I'm glad that so many of my colleagues are up to the task.

North Carolina Zoo closes aviary to the public as precautionary measure to protect birds.