Avian flu reported in backyard Santa Rosa flock nearly year after start of deadly commercial outbreak in Sonoma County
- by Santa Rosa Press Democrat
- Oct 26, 2024
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The case is likely to raise alarm in the county’s farm belt, which operated under strict site lockdowns and other tightened protocols during a countywide state of emergency that began almost a year ago and resulted in a $20 million loss to businesses.
Between late November 2023 and early January 2024, the federal Department of Agriculture’s Animal and Plant Health Inspection Service charted the spread of highly pathogenic avian flu, or HPAI, through 10 separate poultry facilities around Sonoma County. The virus triggered the destruction of more than 1.2 million birds, including chickens and ducks raised both for eggs and meat.
The county hadn’t seen a confirmed case in a backyard flock since January 2023.
As local poultry businesses gird for another potential wave of avian flu, its appearance before Halloween is a sobering occasion.
And a heartbreak for Julie Meyer.
“They’re so entertaining,” she told The Press Democrat. “You know Muscovy ducks have their own language, and they talk to each other? They don’t quack. They hiss and talk. In the evening, we’ll just go and sit in our chairs and watch the fowl interact. Our chickens are hand raised. And they’re so entertaining, and not dumb at all.”
The Meyers had chickens, roosters, guinea hens, geese, ducks, turkeys, peacocks and peahens, as well as chicks of several species. Most of them range free, with the peafowl in an aviary. They’ve owned birds on their four-plus acres for 26 years, said Julie, whose middle name is Peacock.
“One or two die occasionally,” she observed. “It’s the cycle of life.”
But the cycle went into overdrive Sunday, when the Meyers found two of their 4-month-old guinea hens dead in their coop. That seemed odd, but the couple didn’t suspect the larger forces at work. Then the deaths started multiplying: a couple hours later, it was chicken. A few hours after that, some ducks.
Meyer started calling around to local veterinarians. She made an appointment at Analy Veterinary Hospital in Sebastopol for Bob, the Meyers’ beloved (and then-ailing) pet goose. That was on Monday. By Tuesday morning, Bob was dead.
When Julie asked the hospital if she could bring in a different sick bird, they said no way. It could be infected with avian flu.
Wednesday morning, Dick Meyer drove two dead birds to the UC Davis Pathology Department. Friday morning, following the deaths of several other animals, the university called and confirmed it was the HPAI variant, Julie Meyer said.
She phoned The Press Democrat the same day.
“We want to be responsible. And make other people aware,” she said. “It makes me sick to think how little I knew about it.”
The Santa Rosa case is just the second statewide this season. The first was in a larger commercial facility in Tulare County on Oct. 16.
Mike Weber, who co-owns a Sunrise Farms egg facility on Todd Road, a little over a mile away from the Meyers’ property, hailed Julie as a hero.
“This woman should be recognized as doing the right thing,” Weber said. “They noticed the birds, they took them to the lab, they’re working with the state to minimize the risk. This thing is like a wildfire, and they’re putting the wildfire out right now.”
Sunrise Farms was providing equipment and protective gear to the CDFA for the euthanasia effort getting underway. As soon as the company was notified, Mike Weber said, he began to contact other poultry providers in the county.
“There’s a real risk,” Weber said. “Birds are like virus factories. Once one of them is infected, it puts out an enormous amount of virus, and that will spread to all sorts of birds in the areas.”
When they learned of the positive test, the Meyers began draining their pond, which lately had played host to migrating wild ducks.
“They were coming up and eating the grain we put out for the pet birds,” Julie Meyer said. “I thought, ‘Isn’t that cute?’ Now I know it’s not cute.”
Sonoma County is in the Pacific Flyway, where an estimated 1 billion birds travel north to south every autumn. Those wild birds are a known vector for avian flu, spreading the virus to commercial chickens and ducks through the respiratory system when they are in proximity.
Recent cross-species transmission to dairy cattle has caused the destruction of milk products, but so far has not proved nearly as lethal to cows. Avian flu also has been detected in three people in the U.S., though all were believed to have mild symptoms. Elsewhere in the world, at least five people have died of highly pathogenic avian flu since the beginning of 2022.
The Meyers sprayed parts of their property with diluted bleach, and received additional instructions from the state.
“They said, ‘Leave all your clothes and shoes at the barnyard when you go into the house,’” Julie reflected. “I said, ‘You’re a little late.’ We’d been going in and out for two days.”
Just before 3:30 p.m. Friday, U.S. Department of Agriculture representatives showed up, donned protective equipment outside the Meyers’ front gate and proceeded to set up bins that would be used to dispose of dead birds.
They were waiting for Dr. Steve Lyle, a veterinarian in the state Department of Food and Agriculture’s Redding office. Julie Meyer was holding out hope her peafowl could be spared, but she wasn’t counting on it.
She was also feeling pretty unlucky.
“How the hell did this happen to me, and my birds?” Meyer said.
You can reach Phil Barber at 707-521-5263 or phil.barber@pressdemocrat.com. On X (Twitter) @Skinny_Post.
What to watch for, who to call if you suspect a case of avian flu
Clinical signs of avian influenza in birds include sudden death; trouble breathing; clear runny discharge from the nose, mouth and eyes; lethargy; decreased food and water intake; swelling eyes, head, wattles or combs; discolored or bruised comb, wattles or legs; and stumbling, falling or a twisted neck.
Any unusual or suspicious dead wild birds should be reported to the California Department of Fish and Wildlife. Poultry owners with flocks that have experienced any unusual or suspicious illness or deaths should call the Sick Bird Hotline at (866) 922-BIRD (2473).
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