No Room at the Inn

With the onset of this current avian influenza outbreak, one which has already resulted in the deaths on millions of domestic birds, zoos in the eastern half of the country are scrambling to bring their birds inside to keep them safe from exposure.  The problem that many of them are facing is, where do you put them all?  Many zoos in the northern states have designated holding areas for their tropical birds during the winter, but southern states do not.  Other birds are capable of remaining outside in all weather, so don't have indoor holding.  Or, if they do, the holding areas are only meant to be used for short periods of time, brief emergencies (think of those famous photos of storks and flamingos in public bathrooms, waiting out hurricanes).  Now, we're looking at a situation which could last for weeks or months.

This is scary, stressful new territory for a lot of folks (and even more birds).  It poses major challenges and complications for staff as they try to manage birds in situations where they never have before.  It can pose major behavior challenges for birds - are new holding areas safe?  Are they large enough?  What about the stress of being caught up and moved, perhaps into an unfamiliar environment in close proximity of other animals, vehicles, and other stressors?  To say nothing of the impact that it could have in disrupting laying and nesting, which, of course, is what birds are primarily doing in the spring.

If there's a lesson to be learned from this, it's that we need to be smart about designing and incorporating safe holding spaces into all new construction to prepare for this and other potential future challenges.