Avian flu kills 3 California condors in northern Arizona

Three California condors have died from avian flu in northern Arizona. The birds are part of a inhabitants that strikes all by northern Arizona and southern Utah, along with Grand Canyon National Park.

Marble Canyon,UPDATED: Apr 8, 2023 14:26 IST

In this June 21, 2017, file image, a California condor takes flight inside the Ventana Wilderness east of Big Sur, Calif. (AP Photo)

By Associated Press: Three California condors have died from avian flu in northern Arizona and authorities are looking for out what killed 5 others inside the flock, the National Park Service launched Friday.

A sick female condor suspected of getting lead poisoning was found lifeless on March 20 and testing confirmed it had Highly Pathogenic Avian Influenza (HPAI), the park service said.

Two totally different birds later found lifeless moreover examined constructive, whereas test outcomes aren’t however completed for five others, the park service said.

The birds are part of a inhabitants that strikes all by northern Arizona and southern Utah, along with Grand Canyon National Park, the park service said.

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The Peregrine Fund, which manages the Arizona-Utah flock, moreover captured 5 totally different birds that appeared sick and despatched them to a wildlife rescue in Phoenix. One rooster died and the alternative 4 have been quarantined, officers said.

Exposure to the virus is anticipated to rise all through the condors’ northward spring migration.

HPAI hasn’t been detected in several populations in California or Mexico’s Baja California, in line with the park service.

Avian flu occurs primarily in birds along with dwelling chickens, however it certainly has been current in several animals, wild and residential, in all U.S. states moreover Hawaii.

Humans are thought-about to be at low menace from HPAI, although there have been reported infections.

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The California condor is probably going one of many world’s largest birds with a wingspan of as a lot as 10 ft (3 meters). The birds as quickly as patrolled the sky from Mexico to British Columbia. Condors can reside for 60 years and fly big distances, which is why their fluctuate can lengthen into numerous states.

The inhabitants plummeted to the brink of extinction inside the Nineteen Seventies on account of wanting, habitat destruction and lead poisoning from animals consuming shot with lead bullets.

In the Eighties, wildlife officers captured the ultimate remaining 22 condors and took them to the San Diego and Los Angeles zoos to be protected and bred in captivity. The birds had been then launched into sanctuaries and nationwide parks the place they’re typically monitored.

The birds have been protected as an endangered species by federal laws since 1967 and by California state laws since 1971.

California condors have been making a comeback inside the wild and now occupy parts of California’s Central Coast, Arizona, Utah and Baja California, Mexico. The full wild inhabitants now numbers larger than 300 birds.

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Published On:

Apr 8, 2023