Avian Influenza: What I know and have experienced.
M T
Good Morning.
I am a licensed wildlife rehabilitator in Colorado and would like to share a little of what I know and have experienced with avian influenza since it arrived in our area in 2015.
Highly Pathogenic Avian Influenza (HPAI) is surging all across the lower 48 and the Front Range of Colorado. The virus is carried by wild waterfowl with ducks being the primary asymptomatic hosts. Wild geese can be asymptomatic, but also experience variability in debilitation and mortality. Red-tailed hawks and Great horned owls are particularly vulnerable to the virus due to their sheer population numbers in the wild and their foraging habits. In general, the time from infection to debilitation/death is quick with birds succumbing within 72 hours. HPAI is also lethal to backyard fowl and domestic felines (house cats). Humans can also contract HPAI, but generally only manifesting typical flu type symptoms. However, individuals with underlying health conditions can be more seriously impacted.
Another key component with the HPAI virus (H5N1) is its persistence in the environment. Survivability of the virus is highly variable with cool/cold/ and wet/humid being the most favorable. This virus does not do well in hot, dry temperatures as we experience in Colorado during the summer. The virus is primarily shed in the feces of infected birds, but also can be shed through mucosa and respiratory droplets. Please consider anywhere outdoors with high concentrations of wild waterfowl as a veritable reservoir of HPAI and your footwear as an effective delivery system.
If you come across an obviously neurological wild bird or a raptor that looks like it fell out of a tree, please do not contain the bird. Contact a local rehabilitator, animal control or wildlife agency immediately for guidance on what to do next. The CSU Veterinary Teaching Hospital will not accept sick wild birds as these animals are a biosecurity risk to their client animals. Also, please don’t risk your health or the potential of transmitting the virus to animals at your home by capturing the animal and taking it home.
I know it is distressing to see these sick birds, but please understand that here is very little that can be done for most of them other than humane euthanasia. Out of 91 HPAI patients admitted to our facility since 2022 only 3 (with milder infections) survived and were released.
I hope you find this information helpful.
Michael C. Tincher
Rehabilitation Coordinator
Rocky Mountain Raptor Program
Fort Collins, CO