5-13-15 dnr expert says owl death can’t be linked to poultry farm avian influenza outbreak

A DNR wildlife expert says there is no evidence that a snowy owl found dead from the bird flu contracted the virus from infected poultry.  The snowy owl was found by a DNR conservation warden in the breakwater area of Green Bay last month.   “There’s no way that we can connect the dots in that way.  This result in this snowy owl does not indicate that there’s widespread presence of the virus in wild birds in our state,”  Tami Ryan told AM 1170 WFDL’s Between the Lines program.  Ryan says more likely is that the owl may have fed on waterfowl or a shorebird that are known to commonly carry avian influenza but don’t necessarily become ill.  Ryan says its hard to say at this point if more wild birds will be found  dead from avian influenza.