The New York State Department of Environmental Conservation is investigating a suspected outbreak of highly pathogenic avian influenza (HPAI) virus, commonly known as “bird flu,” at Reynolds Game Farm in Ithaca.
Farm staff first noticed several dead pheasants on March 20 during routine monitoring and feeding, DEC said in an email to Syracuse.com. Over the past three days, at least 500 of DEC’s breeder flock of 6,600 pheasants have died, with that number continuing to increase, DEC said.
The farm was put under quarantine following initial test results from Cornell on March 21 confirming HPAI, DEC said, and is now under a mandated 120-day quarantine period.
DEC said it is working closely with animal health experts at the New York State Department of Agriculture and Markets and the U.S. Department of Agriculture’s National Veterinary Services Laboratory to determine next steps at the farm.
HPAI primarily affects birds. When it’s discovered in a commercial poultry operation, the entire flock must be killed to contain the spread of the disease. DEC did not say how many birds at the farm were affected, or if affected birds will be slaughtered.
The current outbreak of the virus, which began in 2021, has affected more than 800 flocks in 47 states, totaling nearly 60 million birds, according to the U.S. Department of Agriculture.
The last outbreak of HPAI in 2014-2015 resulted in the loss of more than 50 million poultry in 21 states according to a USDA report.
HPAI also circulates in wild birds, including waterfowl and raptors. The current outbreak has had a far more severe impact on wild birds than past outbreaks by a factor of ten.
Last spring, near the start of the outbreak, the virus killed nine bald eagles in New York, and 307 HPAI cases in wild birds have since been detected around the state, including Tompkins County.
Reynolds Game Farm employs rigorous biosecurity protocols, DEC said, including fencing and overhead netting to prevent large birds like hawks, owls, ducks, geese, and gulls from getting into the pen. Staff also conduct regular disease surveillance, DEC said.
Rangers and other DEC personnel pitched in to release 200 pheasants last October during a stocking event at Carlton Hill Multiple Use Area in Dale, NY.
Impact on pheasant hunting
In operation since 1927, Reynolds Game Farm is New York’s only pheasant production facility, raising and distributing tens of thousands of the game bird statewide. Without stocked birds from the farm, pheasant hunting opportunities would not exist in New York, DEC said on its website.
Pheasant hunting is one of the most popular small game hunting activities in New York, with around 23,000 hunters harvesting over 50,000 pheasants statewide each year according to DEC.
DEC runs two pheasant-rearing programs through Reynolds Game Farm. One program supplies 30,000 adult pheasants (18 weeks and older) each year for release on more than 100 DEC-managed public hunting lands.
The game farm also supplies 40,000 pheasant chicks each year through its popular Day-Old Pheasant Chick program. More than 160 applicants, including 4-H clubs, sportsmen clubs, and landowners, raise the chicks and release them on lands open to public hunting.
It’s unclear what impact, if any, the HPAI outbreak at Reynolds Game Farm will have on the fall pheasant hunting season, which begins in October across Upstate New York. DEC said in an email that it is “evaluating all of its options for a fall pheasant hunt.”
This story will be updated as DEC releases more information.
Can people get sick from HPAI?
The Centers for Disease Control considers the current risk to the general public from the current H5N1 outbreak to be low.
Since the outbreak began in late 2021, only one person in the U.S. has tested positive for H5N1. That person was involved in the culling of poultry with presumptive H5N1 bird flu in Colorado, the CDC said on its website. The patient reported fatigue for a few days and has since recovered.
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Steve Featherstone covers the outdoors for The Post-Standard, syracuse.com and NYUP.com. Contact him at sfeatherstone@syracuse.com or on Twitter @featheroutdoors. You can also follow along with all of our outdoors content at newyorkupstate.com/outdoors/ or follow us on Facebook at facebook.com/upstatenyoutdoors.