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The New York State Department of Environmental Conservation along with the US Department of Agriculture’s National Veterinary Services Laboratory have confirmed an outbreak of Highly Pathogenic Avian Influenza (HPAI) virus, otherwise known as Bird Flu, at Reynolds Game Farms pheasant population.
The DEC began their investigation at the farm after an outbreak of deaths at the farm, which is located near Ithaca in Tompkins County back on March 20th. Initial tests conducted by the DEC found it to be a possible outbreak of the H5N1 avian influenza (A1) virus.
The farm was immediately put in quarantine the next day (March 21) following a positive test result from the Cornell Wildlife Health Lab. The quarantine period is required to be a full 120 days.
For this week, nearly 500 of DEC’s breeder flock of 6,600 pheasants have now died from Bird Flu (HPAI).
“DEC is working closely with animal health experts at the New York State Department of Agriculture and Markets (AGM) and the USDA National Veterinary Services Laboratory and following standard protocol for an outbreak of HPAI.” The NY DEC said in a press release.
The remaining breeder flock of pheasants at the farm is being depopulated in order to prevent the spread of the disease to other areas in accordance with standard HPAI response protocols. The depopulation is being conducted by the DEC, AGM, and USDA.
None of the birds from the flock will enter the food system. Additionally, the CDC states the recent HPAI detections in the birds do not present a public health concern as HPAI cases in humans are rare with symptoms mid. The risk of a person becoming infected is low.
