Tiger among 20 cats to die of bird flu at sanctuary in Washington state

Wisp O' Mist said:
Twenty exotic cats, including a Bengal tiger, four cougars, a lynx and four bobcats, have died after contracting bird flu at an animal sanctuary in Shelton, Washington.

Source: Tiger among 20 cats to die of bird flu at sanctuary in Washington state

:( This is so sad!
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It is! There was a similar situation in Vietnam earlier in the year.

The articles on it suggest this is caused by eating infected meat vs being infected directly by birds? Doesn't make a difference to the sad state of affairs of course, but the method of transmission is I guess important to other zoos keeping an eye out for the problem. Appears to be a growing issue in the US (or being more widely reported) with the move of the virus to cattle etc.
 
Cats get very neurologic with H5N1 very fast. At my state's veterinary diagnostic lab, they're now doing opt-in testing for H5N1 when people submit feline samples for rabies testing.

Lafone said:
The articles on it suggest this is caused by eating infected meat vs being infected directly by birds?
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The article says nothing about the cause of death of the exotic felines. While it has been concluded that the Oregon cat likely got sick via the raw food, we aren't yet sure what caused these exotic felines to contract it.

While the article cites that WFAC (Wild Felid Advocacy Center) has "strict biosecurity measures", with H5N1 those aren't super useful if the animals have access to wild birds. These animals do; they're kept outdoors. Fenced in, but outdoors. Infected droppings are more than enough. A sick goose poops on the cage while flying overhead? Possible exposure.

Here up north we're seeing a very late H5N1 season with a lottttt of migratory birds dying. I'd bet money that's part of the problem in Washington. It's very possible that there was food contamination but I find a migratory bird situation more likely, unless these animals are getting either roadkill or scraps from a rendering plant.
 
filovirus said:
Cats get very neurologic with H5N1 very fast. At my state's veterinary diagnostic lab, they're now doing opt-in testing for H5N1 when people submit feline samples for rabies testing.



The article says nothing about the cause of death of the exotic felines. While it has been concluded that the Oregon cat likely got sick via the raw food, we aren't yet sure what caused these exotic felines to contract it.

While the article cites that WFAC (Wild Felid Advocacy Center) has "strict biosecurity measures", with H5N1 those aren't super useful if the animals have access to wild birds. These animals do; they're kept outdoors. Fenced in, but outdoors. Infected droppings are more than enough. A sick goose poops on the cage while flying overhead? Possible exposure.

Here up north we're seeing a very late H5N1 season with a lottttt of migratory birds dying. I'd bet money that's part of the problem in Washington. It's very possible that there was food contamination but I find a migratory bird situation more likely, unless these animals are getting either roadkill or scraps from a rendering plant.
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Interesting and demonstrates the vulnerability. The BBC highlights both potential causes and connects it to the Vietnam case which it suggested was food based, but as you say no one has said for sure, I wondered which was more likely.
 
Isn't there also a chance that an infected bird ended up inside one of the enclosures and was consumed by one of the cats? After all, it isn't really that uncommon for felines to hunt wild birds in zoos that were unfortunate enough to end up inside their exhibit.
 
S. Venaticus said:
Isn't there also a chance that an infected bird ended up inside one of the enclosures and was consumed by one of the cats? After all, it isn't really that uncommon for felines to hunt wild birds in zoos that were unfortunate enough to end up inside their exhibit.
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It's possible, but I wouldn't call it the most likely point of exposure. Pictures online seem to indicate that these cats were in enclosures covered on all four sides. I'm no expert on feline behavior, but I'd think these bigger wild cat species would be more likely to spring for a duck or a goose- the only things that I could reasonably see working their way into an enclosure would be something comparatively small, like a sparrow.

My bets are on either migratory bird exposure in the form of droppings, or potential raw food exposure depending on where they source their meat.
 
Wildlife World Zoo in Arizona also lost cats to bird flu recently, but I do not recall that a possible transmission source was suggested. Nonetheless a very significant concern for zoos given not only cats but pinnipeds as well are known to be susceptible. I know it has been widely detected in cows as well but I haven't heard if it is as fatal to them as it is the carnivores.
 
Anyone have a full list of the 20 cats that died? This place has a few cats that are quite rare in North America, including two that are the only one's of their species I believe. It's terrible news either way, but I am curious.
 
NSU42 said:
Anyone have a full list of the 20 cats that died? This place has a few cats that are quite rare in North America, including two that are the only one's of their species I believe. It's terrible news either way, but I am curious.
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According to the collection’s facebook page, they have lost:

  • 1 Amur/Bengal Tiger: Tabbi
  • 4 Cougars: Hooligan, Holly, Harley, Hannah Wyoming
  • 1 African Caracal: Crackle
  • 2 Canada Lynxes: Chuckie and P'uch'ub
  • 1 Geoffroy Cat: Mouse
  • 1 Bengal Cat: Pebbles
  • 1 Eurasian Lynx: Thumper
  • 4 Bobcats: Digger, Willie-Bob, Ruffian, Tank
  • 5 African Servals: Nile, Percival, Nefertiti, Blondie, Shasta
 
Great Argus said:
I know it has been widely detected in cows as well but I haven't heard if it is as fatal to them as it is the carnivores.
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Cows tend to do pretty fine. With care and supportive treatment we've seen a mortality rate of ~2%, though some outbreaks have had higher rates of 10-15%. For comparison, in cats we've seen ~67%. In birds it's routinely nearly 100%.

This is part of the problem we've been seeing with response, actually. The most surefire way to stop the virus from spreading- and in turn, to stop it from mutating- is to cull infected animals. With birds, this isn't usually a problem. Poultry farmers have been dealing with H5N1 for years, and when all of your bird are gonna die anyway, it's more humane to just get it done with. Additionally, it's not as challenging to repopulate afterwards- chickens reproduce pretty good and fast.

With cows, though, it's a lot less simple. For one, their bodies are bigger- harder to kill and harder to dispose of. It's harder to repopulate afterwards, since cow gestation is a lot longer and it takes a lot more energy to grow them to production size. But also... why kill them if they're gonna get better? A dairy farm owner doesn't want to shoot themselves in the foot, jeopardize their business and most certainly put their income on a prolonged pause, because of a virus that most cows will recover from with fairly minimal intervention.

An additional struggle is PPE usage. Dairy barns are hot, wet, and crowded. When our current best suggestions are googles and N95s... what are dairy farmers meant to do? It's dangerous to wear that stuff in a dairy barn- hard to breathe and impossible to see.

Sorry to hijack your post Argus. This has turned into a ramble about dairy farming lol. Tl;dr cows do fairly well all things considered, and that's a big part of why dairies are currently proving uniquely challenging when it comes to H5N1 response.
 
filovirus said:
Sorry to hijack your post Argus. This has turned into a ramble about dairy farming lol. Tl;dr cows do fairly well all things considered, and that's a big part of why dairies are currently proving uniquely challenging when it comes to H5N1 response.
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No worries, thanks for the information. It would seem that zoo bovids would have relatively high chances of being fine then. I would imagine the crowded wet conditions is part of why it transfers so easily, something not present in the zoo environment. That would seem to be good news at least.
 
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