City working alongside Lethbridge College to identify cause of death for hundreds of dead birds

In November 2022, the City of Lethbridge partnered with Dr. Hanna to conduct a research study to determine the cause of death of these birds.

The previous winter, Dr. Hanna also provided the City of Lethbridge with some answers to a few die-offs of waterfowl around Henderson Lake in 2021.

Dr. Hanna explained, “In the field, I look at gross signs of what’s going on, you know, discharge, body posture. But in the lab, I do what’s called a necropsy, basically an autopsy for a non-human animal, and as part of that, kind of figure out [the] cause of death.”

“Part of that, is testing for diseases that cause the animals to die. Last year, it seemed like there was a pretty strong outbreak of fungal disease called Aspergillosis, and that’s sort of like a respiratory infection,” he said. “This year, obviously, with the real red level concern of the highly pathogenic avian influenza (HPAI) outbreak, the City [of Lethbridge] contacted me again when birds started showing up dead in parks.”

Multiple birds can be seen frozen into the Old Man River after falling victim to the avian influenza. (Photo: LNN on January 25, 2023)

Around early December 2022, Dr. Hanna and his team collected several samples of deceased birds that were displaying signs of infection and sent them off to a satellite lab in Calgary with the Canadian Wildlife Health Cooperative.

Last week, the team was able to determine that avian influenza was the cause of death in seven out of the eight birds tested. That included four Geese, two Mallards, one Common Goldeneye Duck, and a Black Billed Magpie.

Results like this indicate that the HPAI is not only impacting waterfowl, wild birds that congregate closely in the water, but also predatory or scavenging birds.

Colin Weir, with the Alberta Birds of Prey Foundation in Coaldale told Lethbridge News Now that since they first noticed signs of the infection back in March 2022, they’ve limited their intake of birds.

“First of all, we need to identify if a bird has the avian flu or not. Unfortunately, it is 100 percent fatal,” explained Weir.

”So, if a bird has avian flu, there’s nothing that can be done to help cure it. Because of that, we’ve got to be concerned about any risk to our birds that we have on-site,” he went on. ”So, we’ve made the decision not to admit any birds that have any symptoms.”

Symptoms from infected birds include lethargy, not taking flight, neurological problems caused by swelling in the brain, a lack of coordination, being unsocial with other birds, discharge from their nostrils, and if the bird does not react when a human comes near them, according to Weir and Dr. Hanna.

A single goose displaying signs of the avian influenza attempting to swim up-river surrounded by a graveyard of waterfowl. (Video: LNN on January 25, 2023)

Fortunately for the Alberta Birds of Prey Foundation, they haven’t seen a single case of the avian flu with any of their resident birds.

Weir added, “We’ve never seen anything like this, and as far as I know, there hasn’t been anything like this that has impacted wild bird populations so extensively.”

As for the outlook from the scientific community, Dr. Hanna noted that this epidemic seen in the wild bird population is unprecedented, not only in Alberta, but across the continent.

According to the Alberta Government, in January 2023, the mortality associated with H5 avian influenza continues to impact more specific areas in Southern Alberta like Lethbridge, Coaldale, Taber, Bow Island, and Medicine Hat, where the flu has been confirmed.

In British Columbia, several poultry farms reported the disease from a wild source into their domestic stocks in mid-November 2022, and were forced to quarantine by the CFIA.

According to a report on November 3, 2022, from the Centre for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), since early 2022, more than 49 million birds in 46 states in America have either died from the influenza or have been culled due to exposure from infected populations.

On a global scale, the H5N1 virus is spreading southwards in wild waterfowl into Central and South America, and has also been noticed in domestic poultry in parts of Europe, Asia and Africa.

While there is no cure or ability to prevent these wild animals from perishing, discovering how the virus is spread is critical to understanding how this could impact humans.

Dr. Hanna explained, “There’s been a few cases, I think three or four globally, of humans contracting avian influenza and that’s not so much of a big deal in itself. The real issue will be if we get humans contracting influenza from birds and then passing it on.”

“That process is referred to as zoonosis, when it goes from a wild animal to a human, and we’ve recently learned all about the importance of that with COVID and that’s kind of an area that we are concerned about,” he added. “It will be a really interesting intersection of what I do in wildlife ecology and public health in many ways.”

As studies with Lethbridge College continue, the City of Lethbridge indicated in December 2022, that if you come across a dead bird, refrain from touching it in order to minimize transmission.

City of Lethbridge Parks Department teams will be going around to collect or move small dead wild animals that are on or within two meters of pathways in Lethbridge, or near playgrounds and picnic shelters.

Sara Peters with the City of Lethbridge told LNN, “Additionally, for the River Valley or near/on the river, we will let nature take its course since the River Valley parks are natural areas where cycles are left to play out more naturally.”

Peters went on, “Although it is disturbing to see dead animals, this does result in nutrient cycling for everything from scavengers to the plants that will benefit from those nutrients.”

Scavengers have taken advantage of the deceased birds, as multiple carcasses along the shore have been preyed upon. (Photo: LNN on January 25, 2023)

The avian influenza is currently being monitored by relevant provincial authorities.

Deceased birds should be reported to the Alberta Government at 310-0000.

Read more: LethbridgeNewsNow

by Sarah Jones

City working alongside Lethbridge College to identify cause of death for hundreds of dead birds

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