36 bald eagles have died since February as a highly contagious bird flu is sweeping across the U.S., according to reports.
A highly contagious avian influenza is affecting bald eagles in 14 different states, including Florida, Georgia, Kansas, Maine, Minnesota, Nebraska, North Carolina, North Dakota, Ohio, Pennsylvania, South Carolina, South Dakota, Vermont, and Wisconsin.
The death count could extend to 16 states after two other eagles were reportedly getting sick from the strain, which yields high mortality rates among chickens.
According to the US Department of Agriculture, the country is enduring the worst bird flu outbreak in terms of commercial poultry deaths since 2015 caused by the deadly strain of bird flu known as H5N1.
While the majority of bald eagle deaths this year have been reported in states east of the Mississippi River, the virus has also been discovered in western regions.
Bald eagles, America’s national bird, were removed from the endangered species list in August 2007 after their populations recovered sufficiently, with an estimated 50,000 bald eagles living in the U.S. last year.
However, they are still protected under the Migratory Bird Treaty Act and the Bald and Golden Eagle Protection Act, according to the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service.
As a result of the bird virus, poultry and egg prices have also risen across the nation. In Iowa, the state that produces the most eggs, more than 11 million egg-laying hens have died.
“As long as the [wild bird] migration patterns continue, there is a risk for disease to continue to be introduced to our domestic population,” said Chloe Carson, the communications director of the Iowa agriculture department.
Agriculture secretary Tom Vilsack told reporters earlier this month that most poultry facilities are better equipped to prevent the virus from spreading after developing stricter containment measures following the 2015 outbreak.
“The nature of the outbreaks, the size of the operations that have been impacted, the number of states that are dealing with backyard operations as opposed to commercial-sized operations, would strongly suggest that when this is all said and done, it’s going to be significantly less than what we experienced in 2014-15,” Vilsack said.
