Via CBC News: B.C. wildlife rescue centres say they're overrun with calls for birds sick with suspected avian flu. Excerpt:
The provincial and federal governments advise people not to handle sick birds, as wildlife rehabilitation centres say they are seeing increased calls from the public who want to try and help the animals suspected of having avian influenza.
"It's been exceptional in my almost 37 years of doing this," said Elizabeth Melnick, who for decades has worked to rehabilitate injured or orphaned animals at her centre in Abbotsford.
She said her centre, which runs on donations, is unable to keep up with calls, and even people bringing her sick birds such as wild geese and crows they've observed in distress, mostly in the Fraser Valley where avian flu has been detected.
"It's really taken a toll," she said. "It's not a good situation at all."
Seven commercial poultry farms have been quarantined with avian flu since Nov. 16 in Abbotsford and Chilliwack, the same area where 17 million birds were culled in 2004 to prevent the flu's spread.
Officials in the industry say, so far, there has not been farm-to-farm transmission, but wild birds are spreading the disease as they can easily access poultry farms in the Fraser Valley, which are close together.
The first poultry infection in B.C. this year was confirmed in mid-April. There have now been 57 confirmed cases, with the majority discovered this fall as wild birds migrate.
