An eagle looks out on a low tide near Indian River recently. (Sentinel file photo)
By GARLAND KENNEDY
Sentinel Staff Writer
After several months of spreading among wild and domestic birds in the Lower 48, Highly Pathogenic Avian Influenza has arrived in Sitka, where tests confirm that it killed a bald eagle last week.
The virus is suspected of causing the death of three other eagles around Sitka, and Alaska Raptor Center avian director Jen Cedarleaf said the center is taking steps to prevent the disease from spreading among the birds living there.
The virus is almost universally fatal among raptors, Cedarleaf said. Waterfowl, though not as hard hit, can act as carriers. Although ravens and crows can be harmed by the virus, Cedarleaf said the Raptor Center has yet to receive a report of any ravens or crows that appear to be infected.
In an interview on Tuesday Cedarleaf said the first eagle known to have died from the virus was collected on Saturday.
“It was an adult bald eagle,” she said. “We have since then gotten another call from the (Sitka National Historical) Park about an eagle that was acting strange. That bird was picked up on the 14th and it had passed away in the park. I went and checked on it the day before and it was stumbling around and not looking good. And I went back the next day to check on it and it had passed away. So I collected that bird and took samples from it for an avian influenza test… I had another call about an adult eagle on Lance Drive that also was acting strange. And then we got another call today (Tuesday) about another eagle in the park.”
This morning, Cedarleaf said a fourth sick eagle was picked up at the Historical Park and euthanized.
She suspects that the eagles caught the virus from gulls.
“When I went into the park to pick up the second eagle that had passed away, I noticed that there’s a lot of gull feathers back in the woods,” Cedarleaf said. “There’s a lot of gulls hanging out at the mouth of the river and I suspect that eagles are picking off the gulls and then getting the avian influenza from them. Whether that’s true or not, I don’t really know, but it just made me really think when I was back there and I saw all the feathers. I know gulls have been pretty hit hard by the influenza as well.”
While the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention say humans can contract the H5N1 avian flu, the virus is not a major risk to people.
“It is a zoonotic disease so a human can contract the flu, but as of the last time I heard, which was only a few days ago, there’s only been two people that have actually contracted it. And they had mild symptoms and survived just fine,” Cedarleaf said.
Since late 2021, cases of the avian flu virus have been detected in domestic birds across 29 states and wild birds in 34 states, the CDC said in a recent release.
In response to the spread of the virus, the Raptor Center is not taking in new birds for rehabilitation for the time being.
Consulting veterinarian Victoria Vosburg said this precaution is needed to protect birds already in the center.
“The Raptor Center is not allowing any wild birds for rehabilitation on site. Our permitting agent only allows us to rehabilitate birds on site,” Vosburg said. “So that means we cannot do any rehabilitation. And that is the best way that we can protect our resident birds. Now, as the Raptor Center veterinarian, I can euthanize birds so that they aren’t in the wild suffering… Every bird that dies or I pick up and euthanize will be tested for avian influenza. So we will be helping with the monitoring of that. But absolutely everything needs to occur off site of the Raptor Center in order to protect our resident birds, because they are so susceptible.”
While the Raptor Center is still open to visitors, executive director Jen Cross asked for the public to be patient while the protective measures are in place.
“We’re asking for patience and understanding from guests during this difficult time. Unfortunately, because of our preventative measures that we’ve had to make at the Raptor Center, there’s not as many raptors on display as usual. That said, we’re always committed to ensuring that people have a memorable and meaningful experience,” Cross said.
While HPAI kills almost all the eagles it infects, the virus also poses a significant hazard to chickens and other avian livestock.
For Sitkans with chicken coops, Vosburg advised precautions, but noted the situation is challenging.
“To truly protect them, it’s asking a lot. It means they can have no contact with wild birds or any fomites… Fomites are inanimate objects, like your shoes, they can track virus from one point to another,” Vosburg said. “For example, if you go to Swan Lake and you feed the ducks there, you can get some avian influenza on your shoe and you go home you feed your chickens, and you could give it to all of your chickens. So you need to keep your chickens away from wild birds and their droppings and you need to make sure you can’t carry the virus in. And that is a real challenge. All of that is very, very difficult.”
Vosburg and Cedarleaf suggested that poultry keepers wear clean shoes when entering chicken coops so as not to track in fecal matter from wild birds. The virus has claimed tens of millions of domestic birds this year, the U.S. Department of Agriculture says on its website.
The virus was first reported in Alaska on May 3, and within a week the Raptor Center instituted precautions.
“Several direct observations of telltale signs of the virus in Sitka prompted the center’s difficult decision on May 10 to temporarily suspend its rescue and rehabilitation services. The center’s suspicions were confirmed on Saturday, May 14, 2022, when the results of a sample they collected from a dead bald eagle in Sitka National Historical Park came back positive,” the center said in a press release Tuesday.
The virus can trigger a number of neurological symptoms in birds, from tremors to lethargy or head flopping, Vosburg said.
As she keeps up with current research underway in the Lower 48, Cedarleaf hopes the virus will abate as the weather warms. However, she acknowledged that uncertainty remains.
“The virus tends to die down when it gets warmer out. For instance, down in the Midwest they are waiting for it to get warmer and hopefully it’ll slow down the cases of virus that they’re seeing,” Cedarleaf said. “And I keep asking them, ‘What is warm?’ Sitka doesn’t get as warm as the Midwest does. So I’m hoping that 65 is good enough. But I don’t really know yet.”
As for Alaska’s wild eagle population, Cedarleaf said the situation remains unclear.
“Bald eagles have been getting hit pretty hard down south as well,” the biologist said. “We won’t know until we get through it, as to what’s really happened. We may not really know the impacts in Alaska just because our state is so huge and there’s so much wilderness that eagles could be dying in places where people don’t go and so we’re not going to know what has happened to them. It’s hard to say.”
Vosburg underscored the threat to Sitka’s chicken coops.
“Avian influenza has been here in the past but this one is quite different,” she said. “In order to be called Highly Pathogenic Avian Influenza it has to kill chickens. That’s the definition. This particular strain is also killing raptors, especially bald eagles. I have not heard anyone concerned about the population at this point. But it is certainly very deadly to them.”
The Raptor Center asks Sitkans to report to the center if they find sick or dead wild birds. Illness or death in domestic birds should be reported to the state veterinarian, Dr. Robert Gerlach at 907-375-8215. The U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service also maintains a sick and dead bird hotline at 1-866-527-3358.
