An animal control department in Martha’s Vineyard has issued a warning after “hundreds” of dead birds — many of them cormorants — washed up on the Massachusetts island.
In a Tuesday Facebook post, Tisbury Animal Control warned residents and visitors to Martha’s Vineyard to keep their distance from any dead birds they find.
“DO NOT TOUCH THEM!!! Keep your dogs leashed if on beaches so they do not get contaminated,” the post explained. “Take care when going in water, many are floating in seaweed, etc.”
Tisbury Animal Control also asked that anyone who comes across a dead bird in the area contact an animal control official. Animal control officers are collecting the dead birds and sending them to the Massachusetts Department of Fish and Game Division of Fisheries and Wildlife (MassWildlife) for testing.
Getty Male cormorant
An animal control department in Martha’s Vineyard has issued a warning after “hundreds” of dead birds — many of them cormorants — washed up on the Massachusetts island.
In a Tuesday Facebook post, Tisbury Animal Control warned residents and visitors to Martha’s Vineyard to keep their distance from any dead birds they find.
“DO NOT TOUCH THEM!!! Keep your dogs leashed if on beaches so they do not get contaminated,” the post explained. “Take care when going in water, many are floating in seaweed, etc.”
Tisbury Animal Control also asked that anyone who comes across a dead bird in the area contact an animal control official. Animal control officers are collecting the dead birds and sending them to the Massachusetts Department of Fish and Game Division of Fisheries and Wildlife (MassWildlife) for testing.
The alarming discovery comes as the Highly Pathogenic Avian Influenza (HPAI) has been detected in wild birds in Massachusetts and across the U.S.
According to a joint update from the Massachusetts Department of Agricultural Resources Division of Animal Health and MassWildlife, avian influenza has been detected in “either wild water birds, domestic birds, or both, along the east coast from Canada to Florida.”
In April, PEOPLE reported that the avian flu outbreak is responsible for millions of bird deaths so far this year.
According to the U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA), HPAI has affected over 40 million birds across 36 states. The bird flu surge has also temporarily shut down the aviaries in many U.S. zoos and has sickened zoo birds.
In late April, health officials confirmed an inmate at a Colorado prison as the first person in the United States to test positive for the current strain of HPAI after direct exposure to infected poultry.
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The U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) and the Colorado Department of Public Health and Environment (CDPHE) say the man, who is under 40, only reported fatigue as his symptoms and was in isolation while being treated with the antiviral drug oseltamivir.
