A hawk in western Minnesota is the first wild bird in the state to test positive for the bird flu virus since the beginning of an outbreak that’s killed more than 15 million birds in the Midwest this spring, state wildlife officials announced Thursday.
Officials have long said that wild birds could be spreading the flu, but warned that the positive test in the hawk doesn’t prove wild birds are the direct cause of the recent infections.
“This bird tells us our surveillance is working, but it unfortunately doesn’t provide many other clues about transmission of the virus,” Lou Cornicelli, wildlife research manager for the Department of Natural Resources, said in a statement.
Scientists and industry officials have said the virus also may be reaching captive birds via the feet of humans and rodents, or is being carried in by trucks, equipment, crates and egg flats.
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