CNN
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Bird flu has been on the rise in Washington state and one sanctuary was hit exhausting: 20 huge cats – greater than half of the power’s inhabitants – died over the course of weeks.
The Wild Felid Advocacy Center of Washington introduced the deaths Friday on Facebook. The nonprofit sanctuary is in Shelton, about 22 miles northwest of Olympia.
“It’s been one huge nightmare. I by no means thought one thing like this may occur to us,” the middle’s director and cofounder Mark Mathews advised CNN affiliate KOMO. “Maybe solely in a facility that had cats close to one another, and ours are unfold out over 5 acres.”
It is at the moment unknown precisely how the large cats contracted chicken flu, however Mathews mentioned the primary dying occurred round Thanksgiving.
The 20 animals that died embrace: 5 African Servals, 4 bobcats, 4 cougars, two Canada Lynxes, one Amur-Bengal tiger combine and different species of huge cats.
“Tabbi, she was my favourite tiger,” Mathews advised KOMO. “Before Thanksgiving, we had 37 cats. Today, now we have 17 cats, (together with) 4 recovering.”
The sanctuary is below quarantine and closed to the general public to stop additional unfold of the chicken flu, it mentioned in a press release. The heart mentioned it’s working with federal and state animal well being officers, disinfecting every enclosure and dealing with veterinarians on “prevention methods whereas they oversee therapy to guard animal welfare.”
The sanctuary hopes to reopen within the new yr, in response to the middle’s website.
While it’s unknown how the large cats contracted the chicken flu, the sanctuary mentioned it “spreads primarily by means of respiratory secretions and bird-to-bird contact and will also be contracted by carnivorous mammals that ingest birds or different merchandise,” the middle said in its statement.
Cats are significantly susceptible to chicken flu, which might trigger delicate preliminary signs that will “progress quickly, typically leading to dying inside 24 hours on account of pneumonia-like circumstances,” the middle mentioned. Symptoms embrace low vitality, swelling of physique components, lack of coordination and diarrhea in pet birds, whereas cats and canine might expertise a fever, lethargy and low urge for food, amongst different signs, in response to the American Veterinary Medical Association.
“Usually, when a vet comes out they usually do immobilization, they begin to really feel higher, and with Harley (the cougar), it was totally different as a result of he made it fairly apparent he wasn’t feeling higher after his therapy,” sanctuary worker Jolie Connolly-Poe advised KOMO.
The Washington Department of Fish and Wildlife reported earlier this month chicken flu circumstances have been on the uptick throughout the state. It additionally confirmed two cougars contracted chicken flu in one other a part of the state.
“(I’m) feeling devastated, type of in shock. It simply feels horrible that you just take such excellent care of them, after which one thing unexpected takes its toll actual quick,” Connolly-Poe mentioned. The heart is “simply taking excellent care of these recovering.”
In the 20 years because the sanctuary opened, Mathews advised KOMO there hasn’t been an occasion like this earlier than. The heart is taking further precautions to keep away from an additional unfold of chicken flu as they put together to disinfect every little thing.
The US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention mentioned it’s “uncommon for individuals to be contaminated with chicken flu viruses by means of contact with contaminated wild, stray, feral, or home mammals” however it’s attainable if there may be “extended and unprotected publicity” to the sick animal.
There have been 39 circumstances of human publicity from cows, 23 from poultry and one from different animal publicity this yr.
CORRECTION: An earlier model of this story undercounted the variety of circumstances of human publicity to chicken flu from animals.
