MILWAUKEE — The Milwaukee County Zoo has closed its aviary for the "foreseeable future" in an attempt to protect its birds from the bird flu.
"The closure is out of an abundance of caution meant to protect our avian population from HPAI, commonly known as Avian Influenza, after recent, suspicious, bird deaths on the Chicago shores of Lake Michigan," the Zoo said in a Facebook post.
Updates on the Herb & Nada Mahler Family Aviary will be given as more information becomes available, the Zoo said.
On Wednesday, Agriculture Department officials said dairy cattle in Nevada have been infected with a new type of bird flu that's different from the version that has spread in U.S. herds since last year.
Watch: Milwaukee County Zoo closes aviary for 'foreseeable future' over bird flu
The detection indicates that distinct forms of the virus known as Type A H5N1 have spilled over from wild birds into cattle at least twice. Experts said it raises new questions about wider spread and the difficulty of controlling infections in animals and the people who work closely with them.
“I always thought one bird-to-cow transmission was a very rare event. Seems that may not be the case,” said Richard Webby, an influenza expert at St. Jude Children’s Research Hospital.
A version of the H5N1 bird flu virus known as B3.13 was confirmed in March after being introduced to cattle in late 2023, scientists said. It has infected more than 950 herds in 16 states. The new version, known as D1.1, was confirmed in Nevada cattle on Friday, according to USDA. It was detected in milk collected as part of a surveillance program launched in December.
“Now we know why it's really important to test and continue testing,” said Angela Rasmussen, a virus expert at the University of Saskatchewan in Canada, who helped identify the first spillover.
The D1.1 version of the virus was the type linked to the first U.S. death tied to bird flu and a severe illness in Canada. A person in Louisiana died in January after developing severe respiratory symptoms following contact with wild and backyard birds. In British Columbia, a teen girl was hospitalized for months with a virus traced to poultry.
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