Another mass die-off of Canada geese was discovered in southern Manitoba, this time north of Winnipeg.
An estimated 50 dead geese were spotted on Monday, lying in the snow on the frozen Red River in Lockport, about 15 kilometers north of Winnipeg.
The discovery came after 165 swan carcasses were removed last week retention pond in Niverville, about 20 kilometers south of Winnipeg. Laboratory tests confirmed they died from the highly pathogenic H5N1 strain of the H5 avian influenza virus.
“AWe haven’t collected any of the carcasses yet [in Lockport] “No testing has been done, but just based on the numbers and distribution, we suspect the same disease is killing these birds,” said a biologist with the Canadian Wildlife Service. Frank Baldwin told CBC Manitoba Information Radio host Marcy Markusa on Tuesday.
Bird flu, or bird flu, was called the “fowl plague” when it was identified in Italy in 1878 and slowly developed into an infectious disease. The US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention website says. QThe currently dominant H5 strain, H5N1, emerged in China in 1996 and has since spread internationally, affecting birds and mammals.
““So this virus is something that evolved in birds, but it’s an interesting situation this year, because we’ve never seen this level of mortality in geese before,” Baldwin said.
In the past, the virus did little harm to migratory birds, which carried it and transmitted it to domestic birds, which then became sick.
That changed in 2021, when unprecedented deaths of wild birds began to occur, Baldwin said. The first cases in wild birds in Manitoba were detected in spring 2022.
The Public Health Agency of Canada considers the H5N1 virus to be a low risk to humans. Canada has only had two confirmed human cases: one in 2014 in a returning traveler who got it elsewhere, and the other — the first domestically acquired case — in British Columbia in late 2024.
Nonetheless, Baldwin said people need to take precautions around dead birds. These materials should not be handled and pets should be kept away from them.
At least one goose in Lockport appears to have been taken by scavengers, and Baldwin said a large number of scavengers were confirmed by the provincial veterinary laboratory this fall to have been infected with a form of the H5 virus, including coyotes, beavers, foxes, crows and crows, snowy owls and bald eagles.
Hunters should pick birds in the open, wash their hands regularly, and make sure the meat is fully cooked.
Many types of bird flu viruses circulate among migratory species without causing widespread illness, but H5N1 is currently circulating widely in Canada and in many parts of the world, according to a spokesperson for Manitoba’s Department of Natural Resources. he said in an e-mail.
Wild birds, particularly geese, ducks and shorebirds, are known to spread the virus between regions during spring and fall migration, which is when new cases are most often detected.
Geese around the Winnipeg area today come from northern and southern Manitoba and as far away as Nunavut, based on groups that have been discovered, Baldwin said.
A provincial spokesperson said 726 dead birds have been tested in Manitoba this year, and 54 of them were positive for H5N1.
While bird flu is rare at this time of year, the number of birds dying in one location, such as in Niverville and Lockport, is rare, Baldwin said.
“It’s really concerning because it’s not something we’ve ever seen before. I was in Niverville and seeing the number of dead birds in some of the ponds in town was pretty shocking,” he said.
“And in communication with other colleagues in Canada, the number of birds dying in one area alone is not something they have ever experienced.”
He hasn’t been able to determine the full impact on Canada geese. The most recent data from the annual band is from 2023, Baldwin said.
“It’s possible that the impact will be greater in the last year or two than it has been since it first happened in 2021.”
When the weather cools, birds that haven’t migrated are concentrated in the remaining open water, making it easy for the virus to move through the population very quickly, Baldwin said.
They also came into closer contact with ducks, “which are thought to be the primary source of the virus,” he said.
“And that’s what we think is causing the current peak in death rates.”
Ducks have a lot of background immunity to exposure to the low-pathogenicity avian influenza virus and are believed to have a higher level of immunity to the virus, which is why so few of them died, Baldwin said.
Anyone who finds sick or dead birds can call the provincial TIP line at 1-800-782-0076.
Another mass die-off of Canada geese was discovered in southern Manitoba, this time north of Winnipeg. It’s not yet known exactly how the birds died, but a biologist with the Canadian Wildlife Service suspects it was caused by avian flu, which killed more than 100 geese in Niverville last week.
