Avian flu: DEC urges public to report suspected cases

Agency launches public reporting system; no human cases yet confirmed in NYS

By Mike Lynch

The state Department of Environmental Conservation is asking the public to report suspected cases of avian flu as a way to better monitor the animal pandemic that has been spreading the past few years. 

Joshua Stiller, DEC’s small game unit leader, said the new web-based reporting system will help DEC understand where on the landscape the virus can be found.  

The new link for reporting observations is located on DEC’s Animal Diseases webpage and was developed in collaboration with Cornell Wildlife Health Unit.

The virus is carried by a variety of animals, including raptors and waterfowl, in addition to domestic poultry including chickens. It was also found to be in dairy cows in March 2024 in Texas for the first time. The process of pasteurization kills the virus in milk, according to the U.S. Food and Drug Administration. 

In New York, there have also been confirmed cases in raccoons, squirrels, bobcats, red fox and skunks.

There are no known avian flu cases affecting people in New York, but there are 67 confirmed in the U.S. and one death.

Stiller warned people to avoid contact with potentially infected animals.   

“If you have pets, and you have dead birds in your backyard or on a wetland or water body that’s nearby, you just want to make sure you keep your pets away from those areas,” he said, “but by and large, it poses a pretty low risk to humans.”

Once a report is received, DEC will evaluate the info and may do a site visit. Of particular interest are reports of suspected outbreaks in all species of waterfowl, raptors, crows, shorebirds, and other waterbirds such as gulls, loons, and herons, according to the DEC.

These species are known vectors, particularly vulnerable to the disease, when testing can help DEC track the virus.

In New York, the virus was first detected in February 2022 in Suffolk County. It has since been discovered in wild birds and mammals. 

Photo at top: Wildlife Technician Sam Silverman swabs a bald eagle carcass for avian flu, while Wildlife Biologist Kevin Hynes looks on in 2023. Explorer file photo by Eric Teed.