‘Everything's dying, everything's seizing,’ says wildlife rehabilitator

THUNDER BAY— From tiny woodpeckers to broad-winged hawks, birds in the city and the surrounding district are dropping like flies.

Jenn Salo, executive director of Thunderbird Wildlife Rescue, says the cause is currently unknown, but is likely to be West Nile Virus.

“Everything's dying, everything's seizing, it's not a good situation at all,” she said.

“Generally, it's West Nile virus. I see a lot of it every year.”

Salo said the blood-borne virus is around every year, but this year is particularly bad.

“I have three sick birds with suspected West Nile in care right now, and I lost two broad-winged hawks this weekend to the virus; they were just too far gone and too emaciated to recover,” she said.

“One of the little broad-winged hawks that came in this weekend, he was just crawling with what are called louse flies. They look like house flies, but with gangly legs and with the piercing mouth parts of a deer fly or horse fly,” she said.

Another possibility is bird flu, or avian influenza, is affecting the birds, Salo said.

“It's nerve-wracking for me being on the front lines basically of the wildlife diseases and hoping that it's West Nile Virus and that it's not contagious as opposed to bird flu and it being crazy contagious,” she said.

“Mammals can get the bird flu from eating infected carcasses, and last year we did have a skunk that tested positive in the city.”

Read the rest of the article here: https://www.tbnewswatch.com/local-news/everythings-dying-everythings-seizing-says-wildlife-rehabilitator-11096390