Pathfinder
Editor, Senior Moderator
Hawk from Yellow Medicine County tests positive for HPAI virus
(Released April 30, 2015)
A Cooper?s hawk from Yellow Medicine County is the first Minnesota wild bird to test positive for the highly pathogenic avian influenza (HPAI) virus that has infected poultry farms across Minnesota.
The Department of Natural Resources collected the hawk during the agency?s current HPAI surveillance of wild birds. That surveillance began in March as part of the state?s response to the virus outbreak affecting poultry farms.
Waterfowl are known to carry and potentially spread the virus but don?t get sick or die. Birds of prey ? also known as raptors ? are thought to die from it once infected.
?This bird tells us our surveillance is working, but it unfortunately doesn?t provide many other clues about transmission of the virus,? said Lou Cornicelli, DNR wildlife research manager.
He said the hawk discovery does not indicate the virus in wild birds is the direct cause of Minnesota?s current domestic poultry infections. The DNR is not aware of any recent raptor die-offs.
Yellow Medicine County does not have any infected poultry farms, but nearby Lyon County does.
A homeowner near St. Leo reported April 14 that the hawk flew into the home?s deck and died. DNR wildlife staff collected the adult female hawk and sent it to the National Wildlife Health Center laboratory in Madison, Wis., for HPAI testing. The bird tested presumptive positive and was sent to the National Veterinary Service Laboratory in Ames, Iowa, for confirmation of the H5N2 virus that is infecting poultry farms.
Cooper?s hawks are a common, crow-sized raptor that inhabit Minnesota?s open woodlands. Unlike some other raptors, Cooper?s hawks do not prey on waterfowl or scavenge. They primarily kill smaller birds, are frequent visitors around homes and buildings and occasionally kill small mammals.
The U.S. Department of Agriculture reported in January that a Cooper?s hawk from Washington state tested positive for the virus. Cooper?s hawks likely get the virus from something they ate, Cornicelli said.
Three-pronged surveillance
DNR has a three-pronged approach to HPAI surveillance. The agency is collecting waterfowl fecal samples throughout Minnesota; asking turkey hunters from Kandiyohi, Pope, Meeker, Swift and Stearns counties to submit their harvested wild turkeys for testing; and collecting dead birds of various species reported by the public.
The DNR has collected 29 dead birds of varying species; nine have tested negative for the virus and 20 results are pending. Test results also are pending on the 37 samples from hunter-harvested wild turkeys.
The agency has collected 2,749 waterfowl fecal samples ? nearing its goal of 3,000 ? and more than 2,200 have tested negative; results for the rest are pending.
Cornicelli said the waterfowl fecal sampling effort is designed to determine with 95 percent confidence whether the virus is present on the landscape in at least one percent of the waterfowl population.
That testing standard is considered necessary to determine if a wildlife disease exists at a detectable level, he said.
Wild turkey, raptor populations not at risk
Cornicelli said even if final sampling test results show the virus is on the landscape, wild birds such as wild turkeys and raptors likely are not at risk because they are widely dispersed.
A positive HPAI test from a dead raptor only means the bird was exposed, not that the virus killed it or that the bird spread HPAI to other birds. ?There?s a lot we don?t know about this virus,? Cornicelli said. ?We hope to add to our knowledge once our surveillance is completed.?
The DNR is part of the statewide response to the ongoing avian influenza emergency. The Minnesota Department of Public Safety Homeland Security Emergency Management division (HSEM) activated the SEOC to coordinate the state?s response.
HSEM is coordinating resource needs with several state agencies including the Minnesota Board of Animal Health and the Minnesota Department of Agriculture.
More information on the DNR response to Minnesota?s HPAI infection and recommendations for hunters is available online.
http://news.dnr.state.mn.us/2015/04/...or-hpai-virus/
