Bird flu reported in Santa Rosa backyard flock, nearly a year after deadly commercial outbreak in Sonoma County

The highly pathogenic strain of bird flu devastated Sonoma County poultry farms last fall and winter.

No one knows if this year’s bird flu season will be as deadly. But it starts earlier.

An avian flu infection has been confirmed in a non-commercial flock of backyard birds in southwest Santa Rosa, according to the bird’s owner and Mike Weber, co-owner of egg facilities branded Sunrise Farms and Weber Family Farms, one of the largest companies in the region. largest producers.

The California Department of Food and Agriculture did not confirm the outbreak until Friday at 5 p.m. A state veterinarian is said to be on his way from Redding to the affected area

Residents, meanwhile, were making grim preparations for what they said would be the euthanasia of their entire flock of at least 55 pet birds. Federal agriculture officials were on hand to help clean up the birds.

“The people (at the U.S. Department of Agriculture) asked us to herd our remaining birds into a barn so they could kill them, and I just started crying,” said Julie Meyer, who lives with her husband Dick on Primrose Avenue lives. “It goes against everything my heart beats for.”

The case is likely to cause alarm in the province’s agricultural sector operate under strict location lockdowns and other enhanced protocols during a The national state of emergency started almost a year ago and resulted in a $20 million loss for businesses.

Between late November 2023 and early January 2024, the federal Department of Agriculture’s Animal and Plant Inspection Service mapped the spread of highly pathogenic avian influenza, or HPAI, through 10 separate poultry farms around Sonoma County. The virus caused the destruction of more than 1.2 million birds, including chickens and ducks raised for both eggs and meat.

The province had not seen a confirmed case in a backyard flock since January 2023.

As local poultry farms prepare for another potential wave of bird flu, its appearance before Halloween is a sobering event.

And a heartbreak for Julie Meyer.

“They are so entertaining,” she told The Press Democrat. ‘Did you know that Muscovy ducks have their own language and talk to each other? They don’t croak. They hiss and talk. In the evening we just sit in our chairs and watch the birds interact. Our chickens are raised by hand. And they are so entertaining, and not stupid at all.”

The Meyers had chickens, roosters, guinea pigs, geese, ducks, turkeys, peacocks and peahens, as well as chicks of various species. Most roam freely, with the peacock in an aviary. They have owned birds on their four acres for 26 years, said Julie, whose middle name is Peacock.

“Every now and then one or two die,” she noted. “It’s the cycle of life.”

But the cycle accelerated on Sunday, when the Meyers found two of their four-month-old guinea pig chickens dead in their chicken coop. That seemed strange, but the couple did not suspect that greater forces were at work. Then the deaths started to multiply: a few hours later it was chicken. A few hours later some ducks.

Meyer started calling local vets. She made an appointment at Analy Veterinary Hospital in Sebastopol for Bob, the Meyers’ beloved (and then ailing) goose. That was on Monday. By Tuesday morning, Bob was dead.

When Julie asked the hospital if she could bring in another sick bird, they said she couldn’t. It could be infected with bird flu.

On Wednesday morning, Dick Meyer drove two dead birds to the UC Davis Department of Pathology. On Friday morning, after the deaths of several other animals, the university called and confirmed it was the HPAI variant, Julie Meyer said.

She called The Press Democrat the same day.

“We want to take responsibility. And make other people aware,” she said. “It makes me sick to think how little I knew about it.”

The Santa Rosa case is only the second statewide this season. The first took place on Oct. 16 at a larger commercial building in Tulare County.

Mike Weber, co-owner of a Sunrise Farms egg facility on Todd Road, just over a mile from the Meyers’ property, called Julie a hero.

“This woman should be recognized as someone who is doing the right thing,” Weber said. “They noticed the birds, brought them to the lab and are working with the state to minimize the risk. This thing is like a wildfire, and they’re putting out the wildfire right now.”

Sunrise Farms provided equipment and protective gear to the CDFA to kick-start euthanasia efforts. Once the company was notified, Mike Weber said, he began contacting other poultry companies in the county.

“There is a real risk,” Weber said. “Birds are like virus factories. Once one of them is infected, it spreads a huge amount of virus, and that spreads to all kinds of birds in the areas.”

When they learned of the positive test, the Meyers began draining their pond, which had recently been host to migrating mallards.

“They came up and ate 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 located in the Pacific Flyway, where an estimated one billion birds travel from north to south each fall. These wild birds are a known vector for bird flu. They spread the virus through the respiratory tract to commercial chickens and ducks when they are nearby.

Recent interspecies transmission to dairy cattle has led to the destruction of dairy products, but so far has not proven nearly as deadly for cows. Bird flu has that too detected in three people in the USalthough all were thought to have mild symptoms. Elsewhere in the world, at least five people have died from highly pathogenic bird 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 in the barnyard when you go into the house,’” Julie reflected. “I said, ‘You’re a little late.’ We had been getting in and out for two days.”

Just before 3:30 p.m. Friday, representatives from the U.S. Department of Agriculture showed up, donned protective gear outside the Meyers’ gate and proceeded to set up bins that would be used to remove dead birds.

They waited for Dr. Steve Lyle, a veterinarian at the Department of Food and Agriculture office in Redding. Julie Meyer hoped her peacock would be spared, but she didn’t count on it.

She also felt quite unhappy.

“How the hell did this happen to me and my birds?” Meijer said.

You can reach Phil Barber at 707-521-5263 or [email protected]. On X (Twitter) @Skinny_Post.