Bird flu in wild pheasant populations

Madislander

Madislander

Member
Does anyone have any information or links to articles on the impacts of bird flu on wild birds? I've done a quick Google search but all I can really find is about pen raised and pheasant farms. Thanks
 
I reached out to a Regional Supervisor that oversees the preserves/pen raised pheasants in SD about this a month ago and here is the response he sent me:

Lucas, sorry about the wait on this. Obviously this is a bit of a complicated issue, however the Animal Industry Board (AIB) and Game, Fish and Parks (GFP) are working together to educate all poultry producers, including those with captive pheasants, on issues surrounding avian influenza. Most producers who keep captive game birds need permits from GFP and AIB which include following minimum biosecurity standards and recordkeeping requirements. Imported birds must meet SD Animal Industry Board import requirements.

Domestic poultry populations including captive game birds are only a risk to the wild populations if they become infected with HPAI. If a flock becomes infected they are quickly quarantined and depopulated to mitigate the spread of the disease. The biggest risk factor for domestic and wild birds are migratory waterfowl. The virus circulates in wild waterfowl populations with most infected wild waterfowl not showing clinical signs of disease while shedding the virus in their feces.

For more information on the disease please visit the following sights.

https://aib.sd.gov/poultry.html

https://www.aphis.usda.gov/aphis/ou...-disease-information/avian/avian-influenza/ai

https://www.cfsph.iastate.edu/diseaseinfo/disease/?disease=avian-influenza&lang=en

With all that said, the risk to pheasants that are wild is minimal and the likelihood of pen raised pheasants spreading the disease (my concern) is well mitigated by the agency. I believe that the wild pheasant population is unlikely to be affected and seriously hope I'm correct in that assumption.
 
I have a hard time believing this disease is transfer by wild waterfowl. Most these poultry farms are raise in enclose buildings. My feelings about this is the living conditions of the birds. There way too many birds in building, poor ventilation and filth. With labor shortages, I bet it's hard to find employees to do these jobs in maintaining suitable living conditions.
Where I live we have a lot turkey farms, they have manure pile that's 10 feet high waiting to spread on the fields in winter and spring. When rains you can smell it a mile away down wind. I would more concern about geese and ducks that feed in these fields.
 
They're banding waterfowl in Louisiana every weekend have been for the last 2 months, and are testing them for bird flu. I think the people in the know have a pretty good idea of how it is spread...
The group that was testing was from Georgia they swab the birds to check for avian flu, then took blood samples for avian flu antibodies.
.1651276799729.png1651277138027.png
 
Last edited:
Rumor has it that it has shown up in wild turkeys in MT. All in all it sounds like it will have an effect on many wild birds, probably not as bad as raised birds but still an effect.
 
Redmoose said:
I have a hard time believing this disease is transfer by wild waterfowl. Most these poultry farms are raise in enclose buildings. My feelings about this is the living conditions of the birds. There way too many birds in building, poor ventilation and filth. With labor shortages, I bet it's hard to find employees to do these jobs in maintaining suitable living conditions.
Where I live we have a lot turkey farms, they have manure pile that's 10 feet high waiting to spread on the fields in winter and spring. When rains you can smell it a mile away down wind. I would more concern about geese and ducks that feed in these fields.
Click to expand...
help will be available after Title 42 is dropped.
 
We are having a late spring, migratory birds have just started showing up this last week . And we just have our first case of bird flu. Might have come from the other side of the Pacific, but will probably be throughout all the waterfowl before long. Grouse are pretty solitary, but ptarmigan flock up and might be more susceptible to virus spread.
 
i don't see how they can capture and kill that many pheasants, that fast. unless they are picking them up, disabled?
 
The pheasants killed were at a state run bird farm. Wyoming raises pheasants on bird farms and releases them in the fall for hunters to hunt. So these were not wild pheasants.
 
Well for what is worth the bird flu has shown up in many areas of AK. Mainly in geese and eagles, but also found in foxes. The most reported cases have come from Bald eagles, probably because they are watched more than other species.Now eagles are not flock birds so transmission from bird to bird should be minimal, that said they eat carrion a lot, so dead migratory birds would be a large part of their diet. This is totally nonscientific but I have seen way less migratory birds than in prior years, migratory birds being ducks geese and cranes. Also while out fishing the birds in the salt appear to be pretty sparse this year. Robins and swallows seem normal. Can't help but think there will be some effect on upland populations as waterfowl pass through the Dakotas.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top