DOOR COUNTY (NBC 26) — Safety for their birds has always been the number one concern at the Open Door Bird Sanctuary in Jacksonport.
"We have come across a number of birds out in the wild that do have avian influenza. We will not come in contact with that bird," Rob Hults, the executive director at Open Door Bird Sanctuary, said.
He says birds contracting the bird flu right now are species like geese and chickens, which tend to congregate together.
"They transfer it back and forth to each other, and then they get sick and give it to somebody else. We're away from those flyaways, fortunately, here," Hults said.
That doesn’t stop them from taking precautions with volunteers who own pet birds to keep their 19 different raptors—like bald eagles, hawks, and owls—at the sanctuary safe.
"Have separate clothing that you don't wear around your chickens, that you wear here to the sanctuary, and that little bit of isolation helps keep our birds safe," Hults said.
Watch: Door County bird sanctuary gears up for possible bird flu impact
Dr. Dan Gray, a veterinarian at Gentle Vet Animal Hospital in Green Bay, says the main way to avoid getting bird flu is to not come in contact with any unfamiliar birds.
"The baseline is preventing contact with unknown birds," Dr. Gray said.
Gray says, as of Feb. 5, 2.6 million birds in 14 states have been affected.
Sandor Bittman, the operations manager at Open Door Bird Sanctuary, says being mindful of bird flu is probably the best way to avoid bringing it home.
"I think the biggest thing is just being aware that it exists and being conscious of points of contact where you can come in contact with it and then potentially transfer it to your birds," Bittman said.
Gentle Vet says if they receive confirmed cases of bird flu they'll be in contact state vet to issue a quarantine some symptoms of bird flu can range from birds becoming depressed, huddling together and potentially death.
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