The Berlin Zoo shut its doors to visitors after one of its aquatic birds tested positive for avian flu. Photo / Monika Skolimowska, dpa via AP
The Berlin Zoo shut its doors to visitors after one of its aquatic birds tested positive for avian flu. Photo / Monika Skolimowska, dpa via AP
The Berlin Zoo shut its doors to visitors Friday after one of its aquatic birds tested positive for avian flu, the facility said.
A routine check on a hamerkop — a medium-sized wading bird — that had died last week found that it tested positive for the disease.
The zoowill remain closed for the time being as a “precautionary” measure, the zoo said. In the meantime, caretakers are working to quarantine and separate the remaining bird populations.
“The primary goal is to prevent the spread of avian flu,” Berlin’s climate ministry said.
Zoos in other German cities, including Greifswald, Karlsruhe, Rostock and Heidelberg, have also recently been hit with cases of avian flu.
Bird flu detected in southeast Alaska black bear cub
A black bear cub in southeast Alaska was euthanized after it became ill with avian influenza, the Alaska Department of Fish and Game said.
It is believed that the cub, which was located in Bartlett Cove in Glacier Bay National Park and Preserve west of Juneau, is the second bear diagnosed with the highly pathogenic bird flu, the Juneau Empire reported.
A black bear cub was diagnosed with avian flu after eating suspected infected birds. Photo / Delaney Van, Unsplash
Bird flu “passes really easily to poultry, but mammals aren’t really susceptible to it,” said Dr. Kimberlee Beckmen, a wildlife veterinarian for the department. “It’s difficult to get, but we suspect the cub probably ate a bird that died from avian influenza.”
