JUNEAU, Alaska (AP) — A black bear cub in southeast Alaska was euthanized after it turned unwell with avian influenza, the Alaska Department of Fish and Game mentioned.
It is believed that the cub, which was positioned in Bartlett Cove in Glacier Bay National Park and Preserve west of Juneau, is the second bear identified with the extremely pathogenic hen flu, the Juneau Empire reported.
Paul Oomen by way of Getty Images
Bird flu “passes really easily to poultry, but mammals aren’t really susceptible to it,” mentioned Dr. Kimberlee Beckmen, a wildlife veterinarian for the division. “It’s difficult to get, but we suspect the cub probably ate a bird that died from avian influenza.”
The bear probably turned unwell as a result of it was a small, younger animal with a weak immune system, she mentioned.
Since the virus was first detected in an grownup feminine black bear in Canada in June, Alaska state officers have examined scavenging animals for it. So far, it’s solely been present in two different animals, each purple foxes in Dutch Harbor and the western Alaska group of Unalakleet.
Finding hen flu within the bear and foxes will not be a sign it’s more likely to unfold to different animals or to folks, Beckmen mentioned.
“This particular strain, people are pretty much immune to it,” she mentioned.
The U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention mentioned this pressure of hen flu poses a “very low” danger to people, and just one person within the U.S. has been identified on this outbreak.
However, the flu has hammered the state’s wild hen inhabitants.
People in Glacier Bay final month seen that the cub, certainly one of three accompanying a sow, had issue strolling, in line with state wildlife officers.
The sow deserted the cub and a biologist picked it up. However, it started struggling seizures, as did the Canadian bear beforehand identified with the sickness. The Alaska bear was euthanized by a state biologist. Later testing confirmed the presence of the virus that causes extremely pathogenic avian influenza.