Like other facilities, the Toledo Zoo is on the lookout again for any signs of avian flu.
So far, there are none.
Kent Bekker, the zoo’s senior vice president and chief mission officer, said Monday he believes officials there took the right precautions years ago with netting they installed over the outdoor bird displays.
The greatest risk of transmission for zoos is believed to be from wild ducks, geese, and other waterfowl dropping by and co-mingling with resident birds. The netting is designed to prevent that from happening, he said.
The zoo also is increasing its routine procedures aimed at minimizing risk, including foot baths for keepers who come and go between bird displays, Mr. Bekker said.
“We have upped that recently because of avian influenza,” he said. “Between ramping up best practices and the netting we have in place, we believe we’re in the best situation we could be.”
The bottom line for zoo visitors is they shouldn’t notice any appreciable changes in displays, Mr. Bekker said.
Behind the scenes, though, Toledo Zoo staffers are continuing to vet and quarantine any and all birds and other wildlife before they become permanent residents.
The zoo doesn’t rehabilitate injured birds, and it discontinued its former practice of allowing its animals to be taken off-site for educational programs several years ago, Mr. Bekker said.
“We don’t take our animal collection off the property any longer,” he said. “We stopped that a few years back.”
The situation is different at the Pittsburgh Zoo & Aquarium, where peacocks, ostriches, chickens, and owls are ordinarily allowed to roam the premises.
They have been taken indoors to avoid incidental contact with visiting waterfowl and other birds that aren’t supposed to be there, a precaution to help avoid potential exposure to avian flu that an off-site bird might carry into the facility.
The latest strain of avian flu is considered highly contagious among birds and has the potential of spreading to humans. But the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention said there have been no reports of it spreading to humans in the United States yet.
The Akron Zoo and Cleveland Metroparks Zoo also report they have taken birds indoors.
According to the Associated Press, nearly 23 million birds have already died across the United States from the virus itself or because they were culled to prevent it from spreading. Millions of them were chickens or turkeys.
Although no infections have been found among zoo animals, the AP noted in its report that tests done on a wild duck found dead at an Iowa zoo had avian flu.
Whitehouse-based Nature’s Nursery, the area’s best-known wildlife rehabilitation center, is constantly on the lookout for avian flu. That’s especially true in spring when intakes tend to be the highest.
Laura Zitzelberger, Nature’s Nursery co-founder, told The Blade during an interview recently that all of the waterfowl brought to the facility for rehabilitation are first quarantined to make sure they aren’t carrying the bird flu.
Information from The Blade news services was used in this report.
First Published April 11, 2022, 10:31 p.m.
