Deceased turkeys undergoing testing for bird flu

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Around 20 turkeys found dead over the weekend in Edgartown are being tested for bird flu. 

Edgartown Health Agent Brice Boutot said several clusters of deceased wild turkeys, the largest consisting of a dozen birds, were found in the Smith Hollow neighborhood between Friday and Sunday. 

The birds were taken by Massachusetts Environmental Police on its boat late Sunday to the Massachusetts Division of Fisheries and Wildlife facility in Bourne for testing. 

“We’re not sure yet,” Boutot told the Times on Monday. “It could be infection, it could be toxicity.”

While the disease rarely infects humans, Boutot said Island health boards are asking residents to “exercise caution” around dead and diseased birds, including in domestic flocks. Boutot said health officials have also reached out to Island farmers about the turkeys as a precautionary measure.

“Keep your chickens separate from wild birds,” Boutot said, recommending using fences and regularly changing birds’ drinking water.

Massachusetts is dealing with an outbreak of bird flu — also called avian flu, specifically the Highly Pathogenic Avian Influenza A (HPAI) H5N1 virus — that is believed to have killed up to 1,000 birds in the state, and Vineyard health officials have been wary of the virus potentially coming to the Island via migratory birds.

Julia Hopkins, Massachusetts Department of Fish and Game communications director, told the Times on Friday that there have been no positive cases of avian flu among wild birds or poultry on the Island so far. 

“State officials are working with partners to test suspected cases and collaborating with municipalities to safely dispose of dead birds,” she said. 

Hopkins also said there have been less than ten confirmed positive cases in domestic birds since March 2022 across the state, “none of which were commercial operations.” Most of the cases from the outbreak are around Boston and the South Coast region. 

Still, Hopkins said there’s evidence that the virus is now “widespread” in geese and other wild birds in the state and is “likely present even in places where there has not been a confirmed positive [case].”

Dead or sick wild birds can be reported to the Massachusetts Division of Fisheries and Wildlife at https://www.mass.gov/forms/report-observations-of-dead-wild-birds.  

Dead or sick domestic birds can be reported to the Massachusetts Department of Agricultural Resources at https://www.mass.gov/forms/poultry-disease-reporting-form.  

For more information about the virus, visit Massachusetts Department of Agricultural Resources’ avian influenza page and see the full updated state avian flu guidance at https://bit.ly/4jx9SOV.

2 COMMENTS

  1. we need to thin out the population. in our neighbourhood there are over 50 turkeys in the yard. the droppings are overwhelming. You can’t walk in the yard and under the trees were they sleep is disgusting.I have called the Board of Health and there is nothing being done. Are they waiting for people and pets to get sick. I know I am not the only one with this problem.

  2. I am gravely concerned about Avian Flu and the volume of turkeys in my yard nightly.Something has to be done about the wild turkeys. I have 50 or more turkeys that roost in my trees nightly. I cannot walk in my yard because every inch of my yard and driveway is covered in poop.

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