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Another mass die-off of Canada geese has been discovered in southern Manitoba, this time north of Winnipeg.
An estimated 50 geese were spotted lying dead in the snow on the frozen Red River in Lockport, about 15 kilometers north of Winnipeg, on Monday.
The discovery comes after last week's… settling ponds in Niverville, about 20 kilometers south of Winnipeg. Laboratory tests confirmed that they died from a highly pathogenic virus. H5N1 strain H5 avian influenza virus.
“Wwe did not collect any of these carcasses [in Lockport] “It's still for testing, but based on numbers and distribution alone, we suspect the same disease is killing these birds,” Canadian Wildlife Service biologist. Frank Baldwin told CBC Manitoba Information radio Hosted by Marcy Marcus on Tuesday.
Avian influenza, or bird flu, was called “bird plague” when it was discovered in Italy in 1878 and developed slowly. US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention website speaks. THe the now dominant H5 strain, H5N1, emerged in China in 1996. and has since spread throughout the world, affecting birds and mammals.
“So the virus is something that birds have evolved with, but this year it's a little interesting because we haven't seen this level of mortality in geese before,” Baldwin said.
In the past, the virus did not cause much harm to migratory birds, which carried it and passed it on to poultry that became sick.
That changed in 2021, as unprecedented wild bird deaths began to be seen, Baldwin said. first case in wild birds in Manitoba was discovered in the spring of 2022.
The Public Health Agency of Canada considers the H5N1 virus to pose a low risk to humans. There have only been two confirmed human cases in Canada: one in 2014 in a returned traveler who acquired the infection elsewhere, and another (the first domestically acquired case) in British Columbia in late 2024.
However, Baldwin said people need to take precautions around dead birds. They should not be handled and pets should be kept away from them.
At least one goose in Lockport appears to have been picked by scavengers, and Baldwin said the provincial veterinary laboratory has already confirmed this fall that a large number of scavengers are infected with the H5 form of the virus, including coyotes, otters, foxes, crows and crows, snowy owls and bald eagles.
Hunters should pluck birds in open areas, wash their hands regularly, and ensure that the meat is completely cooked.
Many strains of avian influenza circulate among migratory species without causing widespread disease, but H5N1 is now circulating widely across Canada and many parts of the world, a Manitoba Department of Natural Resources spokesman said. said in an email.
Wild birds, especially geese, ducks and shorebirds, are known to spread the virus between regions during spring and autumn migrations, when new cases are most often detected.
Geese in the Winnipeg region now come from northern and southern Manitoba and even Nunavut, based on the bands found, Baldwin said.
A provincial spokesperson said 726 dead birds were tested in Manitoba this year and 54 tested positive for H5N1.
Even though it's not uncommon to see bird flu this time of year, large numbers of dead birds in one location, such as Niverville and Lockport, are rare, Baldwin said.
“It’s definitely concerning because we haven’t seen this before. I was in Niverville and just seeing the number of dead birds on several ponds in town was pretty astounding,” he said.
“And based on conversations with other colleagues across Canada, they haven't encountered that many dead birds in one area either.”
He was unable to determine the full impact on Canada geese. The latest data on annual banding dates back to 2023, Baldwin said.
“It’s probably had more of an impact in the last year or two than it has since it came out in 2021.”
When it gets cold, birds that have not yet migrated concentrate on the remaining patches of open water, allowing the virus to spread through the population very quickly, Baldwin said.
They also come into closer contact with ducks, “which are really thought to be the main reservoir of the virus,” he said.
“And that’s what we think is causing this peak in deaths right now.”
Ducks have strong background immunity to low pathogenicity avian influenza viruses and are believed to have increased levels of immunity to the virus, so few of these ducks end up dead, Baldwin said.
Anyone who encounters sick or dead birds can call the provincial TIP line at 1-800-782-0076.
Another mass die-off of Canada geese has been discovered in southern Manitoba, this time north of Winnipeg. It is not known how the birds died, but a biologist with the Canadian Wildlife Service suspects it was due to avian influenza, which killed more than 100 geese in Niverville last week.
