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A California condor flying in Grand Canyon Nationwide Park with an identification tag on its wing
Trent Townsend/Alamy
No less than 20 California condors have died of avian flu in current weeks, and wildlife officers are making ready for the virus’ unfold among the many critically endangered birds. The extremely contagious H5N1 bird flu that’s killing North America’s greatest fowl is similar pressure that pressured farmers to cull hundreds of thousands of chickens during the last yr.
It’s a main blow to the inhabitants of California condors (Gymnogyps californianus), which had been pushed to the sting of extinction within the Eighties. Intensive breeding and habitat conservation efforts have since bolstered their numbers to round 500 birds, round 300 of which reside within the wild. Clusters of the large vultures can now be discovered from western Canada right down to northern Mexico.
In current weeks, the US Fish and Wildlife Service had confirmed no less than 20 condor deaths in a flock positioned round Arizona and Utah. To date, 10 of the condors in that flock have examined constructive for avian flu and the ten remaining birds are at the moment present process examination. The deaths symbolize a 7 per cent lack of the species’ wild inhabitants.
As of 17 April, the US Fish and Wildlife Service was rehabilitating 4 condors from the flock within the south-west US. They had been “receiving supportive care and have proven enchancment”, in line with a statement.
“My fear is that avian flu might unfold all through the regional condor teams because the illness turns into extra prevalent in fowl populations usually,” says Ileene Anderson on the Heart for Organic Range in Arizona. “Since there isn’t a identified vaccine or confirmed therapy, at a minimal it might set again California condor restoration for years and on the worst it might decimate the inhabitants.”
Avian flu has not been detected in neighbouring flocks in California or Mexico’s Baja California peninsula. Officers say they’re monitoring close by condors and making ready within the occasion that it spreads, particularly as migratory birds that might ferry the virus fly north for spring migration.
Although there have been uncommon instances of avian flu sickness and deaths in people, public well being officers say that transmission is uncommon and advise avoiding shut contact with sick or lifeless wildlife.
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