Idaho game bird farm hit with flu

Bird flu was confirmed Nov. 5 in a Gooding County, Idaho, poultry operation, according to USDA’s Animal and Plant Health Inspection Service. About 10,000 birds were affected. The impacted business is a game bird farm, state veterinarian Scott Leibsle of the Idaho State Department of Agriculture said. All affected birds were euthanized on the premises and subsequently buried at a landfill. He would not identify the business. The owner of one game bird operation in the county told Capital Press the business does not have bird flu. A call to another was not returned immediately. Game bird farms raise birds for sale to, or usage at, hunting preserves. Leibsle said the affected operation self-reported via an online questionnaire. “A sample was submitted the same day, and they came up positive,” he said. The outdoor facility, with a dirt surface and overhead nets, must sit fallow for 120 days per federal regulation, Leibsle said.

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