Twenty huge cats die after contracting chicken flu at Washington State animal sanctuary | EUROtoday

Twenty huge cats have died after contracting chicken flu at a Washington State animal sanctuary.

The Wild Felid Advocacy Center of Washington within the metropolis of Shelton introduced the deaths on December 20. Just two weeks prior, officers confirmed the presence of chicken flu within the sanctuary, which compelled the middle to shut and quarantine.

“This tragedy has deeply affected our team, and we are all grieving the loss of these incredible animals,” the middle mentioned in an announcement on Facebook.

“Now, we turn to the community for support as we focus on the care and recovery of our surviving felids,” the assertion continued. “The mounting medical costs, even at discounted rates, have placed a significant financial strain on our sanctuary.”

The sanctuary included a full listing of the cats who handed away: Tabbi, a half-Bengal tiger; Crackle, an African caracal; Mouse, a Geoffroy’s cat; Pebbles, a Bengal cat; Thumper, a Eurasian lynx; cougars Hooligan, Holly, Harley and Hannah Wyoming; Canada lynx cats Chuckie and P’uch’ub; bobcats Digger, Willie Bob, Ruffian and Tank; and African servals Nile, Percival, Nefertiti, Blondie and Shasta.

Caretakers first seen the cats growing pneumonia-like signs in November, The New York Times studies. The virus, unknown on the time, unfold rapidly. The first cat to die was one of many cougars, whereas an African serval was the final to die on December 13.

Now, the sanctuary is residence to only 17 cats, in accordance with the Times. Workers rapidly eliminated the 8,000 kilos of freezer-stored meals to forestall any additional infections. Now, they’re working by means of a sanitation course of that might take months to finish, founder and director Mark Mathews advised the paper.

“We have to go through and disinfect each habitat,” he mentioned. “Any straw or organic matter needs to come out and be bagged and then burned, and then we have to disinfect again. Then we have to let it set for a couple weeks.”

Bird flu is spreading throughout the nation, largely impacting poultry flocks and dairy herds. California declared a state of emergency final week because of the unfold of chicken flu within the state, and greater than 60 individuals have contracted the virus throughout the US.

Health officers not too long ago introduced that an individual in Louisiana has the primary recorded case of extreme sickness attributable to chicken flu within the nation. The affected person had been round sick and lifeless birds in yard flocks.

The individual has been hospitalized.

“While the current public health risk for the general public is low, people who work with birds, poultry or cows, or have recreational exposure to them, are at higher risk,” the Louisiana Department of Health mentioned earlier this month.

However, there was no human-to-human transmission of chicken flu reported within the US so far.