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WARNING: This story contains images of a dead goose.
A Niverville man was shocked to see multiple dead geese in his backyard pond and even one on his back deck.
All of them died as a result of an outbreak of bird flu.
About three weeks ago, Mason Goulet noticed a handful of Canada geese on the ice struggling to move.
“We thought some of them might have been frozen in the ice,” Goulet said Thursday from his porch. “It turns out they were actually sick.”
On November 13, the City of Niverville issued a statement notifying residents that Manitoba Conservation had detected avian influenza in the local geese population. The virus had previously been detected in nearby communities.
Laboratory tests confirmed that it was an H5 avian influenza virus. H5 circulates in wild bird populations. The H5N1 subtype is responsible for some cases of the disease in humans.
Goulet was shocked to find a dead goose on his porch after being gone for a couple of days. He estimates he was there for three to five days.
Conservation advised him to leave it where it was and it could be another week before it is disposed of.
Goulet said he and his neighbors are concerned about the geese population and the possibility of infecting other animals. He saw eagles pecking at corpses.
“People walk their dogs – they could probably end up taking a bite or something like that, which obviously wouldn't do any good,” Goulet said.
“Our cat likes to go out on the deck, so we have a goose here that we've been told not to touch yet, so we can't let him out on the deck.”
Canadian Wildlife Service biologist Frank Baldwin said avian influenza is naturally transmitted to waterfowl. According to him, the population's immunity weakens over time.
It's unusual to see such a high mortality rate in Manitoba because the virus typically peaks after the geese migrate for the season, Baldwin said.
Other parts of Canada, such as southern Ontario and Quebec, as well as parts of the northern United States, are seeing similar death rates, Baldwin said. These outbreaks coincide with colder weather.
“When birds become highly concentrated, the virus spreads quickly through the population,” Baldwin said.
“Birds also experience some stress associated with cold weather, and that leads to the mortality we see here.”
Baldwin and wildlife specialist Owen Andrushuk visited retention ponds in Niverville on Thursday to plan next steps.
Canadian Wildlife Service worked with the provincial government and the city of Niverville to remove the carcasses.
A total of 165 carcasses were removed Friday, including the goose on the deck, Baldwin later told CBC.
The Public Health Agency of Canada believes the virus poses a low risk to humans, but Baldwin said some precautions still need to be taken.
Dead birds should not be handled and pets should be kept away from them. He advises hunters to always pluck birds in open areas, wash their hands regularly and ensure that the meat is completely cooked.
“There is a risk to scavengers such as birds of prey, bald eagles, and some mammals that feed on trash,” Baldwin said.
“This fall, there have been confirmed cases of coyotes, otters and foxes contracting the virus and dying in Manitoba.”
There is an active and severe outbreak of avian influenza in both wild and poultry across Canada. Since December 2021, more than 16 million poultry have died or been culled.
Those figures include 300 ostriches culled in British Columbia last month and 63,000 birds in southwestern Ontario.
The only confirmed human case of H5N1 resulting from transmission within Canada occurred in British Columbia last year.
Hannah Wallace, a researcher at the University of Manitoba with expertise in emerging viruses and viral immunology, said most human cases do not occur in the general public.
“The vast majority are people who work on either poultry farms or dairy farms,” Wallace said.
“These are people who are in very, very close, long-term contact with infected animals.”
It's difficult to contain avian influenza in wild bird populations, Wallace said.
Samples from the birds will be sent to the Canadian Food Inspection Agency for DNA sequencing, Wallace said.
Bird flu has caused a mass death of geese in Niverville, Manuel, part of a nationwide outbreak.
