MassWildlife returned to Billington Sea in Plymouth Monday, but thin ice continues to make it unsafe for crews to remove more birds that died from a suspected outbreak of bird flu
Weather has slowed the process of removing dozens of birds found dead at a pond from a suspected outbreak of the bird flu in Plymouth, Massachusetts.
Officials have been trying to gauge the number of sick or dead birds. The Massachusetts Division of Fisheries and Wildlife returned to the pond, Billington Sea, on Monday, but the town says thin ice continues to make it unsafe for crews to remove them.
Town health officials have responded to over 200 phone calls, removing 29 birds and three other animals, since Jan. 18.
Avian flu, a highly pathogenic virus, rarely infects people. But MassWildlife, the Department of Public Health and the Department of Agricultural Resources urged the public not to touch birds or other animals that are dead or seem sick. Instead, they should report large groups of dead or sick birds at mass.gov/reportbirds.
"There were a few carcasses out further on the ice that couldn't be accessed so we got as many as we could," Andrew Vitz, the state ornithologist for the Massachusetts Division of Fisheries and Wildlife, told NBC10 Boston last week.
Footage of apparently dead and distressed birds in Plymouth has circulated on social media. In addition to the outbreak at Billington Sea, there have been other, smaller avian flu outbreaks elsewhere in the state affecting geese.
D.W. Field Park in Brockton was closed down due to a potential bird flu outbreak.
The Cape Wildlife Center shared images of teams responding to the Billington Sea after the outbreak.
"While this is not a situation anyone wants to be in, we hope that today's collective efforts have a positive impact by helping to better understand the root cause of this outbreak and by removing sick and deceased birds from the environment to reduce further spread," the animal rescue said in a Facebook post.
Avian flu can affect both wild and domesticated birds, officials said, and wild mammals, especially ones like foxes that scavenge on birds, can also become infected.
The people who are most likely to become infected with avian flu are ones who have had prolonged contact with infected birds, the officials said. Anyone wonder about the illness can read more here or call the Department of Public Health's Division of Epidemiology at any time of day at 617-983-6800.
Sharon McDonald took the widely shared video while walking through Morton Park.
"I had my dog with me. I found a dead carcass next to me. I was trying to pull up on the reins so he wouldn't get into the body and I thought, 'What am I going to do?'" she recalled.
Officials are noting that, while animal-to-human transmission of avian flu is unlikely, it's possible for the virus to get into people's pets.
"It's extremely rare to be passed on to humans but what's extremely important to know is they need to protect their domestic animals," said Karen Keane, Plymouth's director of public health.