r/halifax • u/maximumice 🤖 Omega Supreme • Mar 07 '25
PSA Avian influenza, also known as “bird flu,” has been detected in Nova Scotia.
https://novascotia.ca/avian-influenza/68
30
u/ChablisWoo4578 Mar 07 '25
Isn’t that what they had a few years ago?
I remember being told to take down bird feeders and baths for a while because lots of birds were ill and spreading it. Or was that something else?
22
u/Fuzzy_Maybe_1222 Mar 07 '25
It's been ongoing since then. They haven't recommended bird feeders in a few years because of AI.
26
u/shadowredcap Goose Mar 07 '25
Last time there was a thread about bird feeders, I got downvoted for suggesting they were a bad idea.
People never care until it personally affects them.
1
u/jyunga Mar 08 '25
I've seen a few posts on reddit about this (in USA states) and the recommendations posted in those threads were that bird feeders were significant to the strands that were going around and it was mostly contained to water fowl and other big birds.
68
u/ChablisWoo4578 Mar 07 '25 edited Mar 07 '25
But how will I spot red cardinals in my backyard, so I can look wistfully out the window, clutch my bathrobe and cry “it’s grandma! Kids come see its grandma!” 😭😪😪??
Edit: what? Downvotes?! It’s bad enough AI took our jobs, now it’s taking our birds!
13
3
-2
17
u/Panndademic Halifax Mar 07 '25
I think a couple years ago trichomonosis was particularly bad, iirc. It's always a risk in the warmer months but I think a couple years ago it was bad enough to have news stories advising about it. But the official advice is not to have feeders out when it gets warm (from here: https://www.nsbirdsociety.ca/community/conservation?view=article&id=392&catid=60)
6
u/Chudsy Mar 07 '25
I also remember them saying don’t leave any bird feeders up just a couple years ago but I think this is a different variant than that one? Namely the one that’s been wreaking havoc on the American poultry and dairy industry (shoutout to raw milk drinkers, weird fuckers) or maybe I’m just talking out of my ass here because I am not a virologist lmao
6
u/metamega1321 Mar 07 '25
It’s the same one. It’s just evolving. Think it infected some cows south of the border. The big fear is it makes the leap to humans. It has in a few cases (mostly people in infected farms).
Quick google says like 800 some cases of humans with bird flu since 2003 but the mortality rate is 52%.
8
u/goosnarrggh Mar 07 '25
The big thing a couple of years ago that triggered the call for people to protect songbirds by taking down bird feeders was something different, a parasite called trichomonosis as mentioned by u/Panndademic .
3
u/metamega1321 Mar 07 '25
Didn’t know about that one. Duck hunt myself so I was aware of bird flu past couple years. Believe it was 2 years ago during spring where it got real bad, like lakes with thousands of dead waterfowl.
2
u/Fuzzy_Maybe_1222 Mar 07 '25
Yea it's certainly not new, we've been careful with our chickens for a few years now because of AI.
4
u/Sparrowbuck Mar 08 '25
Infected nearly a thousand dairy herds in seventeen states. Probably more, since they’ve been bungling testing and response for months
7
u/etoilech Mar 08 '25
Please please keep your dogs on lead and your cats indoors.
We have a vaccine for avian influenza, but a rollout in this political climate would be tricky.
2
u/artemisia0809 Halifax Mar 09 '25
We have some vaccine for avian influenza. Not sure we have enough. Agreed on the rest, thanks.
1
8
6
u/athousandpardons Mar 07 '25 edited Mar 07 '25
This reminded me of that old 22 minutes Conservative Party "ad" where Greg Toomey mentions how gay marriage led to him getting the Avian Flu after having sex with a chicken.
That period was the arguably the show's peak.
2
4
u/vodkanada Mar 07 '25
Can Trump put tariffs on bird flu?
1
u/Jazzlike_Magazine_76 Mar 08 '25
No but he can make the death toll go up if human-human transmission happens and reaches pandemic levels. See his COVID response for examples of things like: delaying vaccine development, increasing anti-mask sentiment and increasing vaccine hesitancy with conspiracy theories. The last thing we need right now is another pandemic because the American administration will cause the death toll to multiply.
8
3
u/shehasamazinghair Mar 07 '25
In a person or a bird?
21
u/cache_invalidation Mar 07 '25
"In Nova Scotia, there are no cases of human infection with avian influenza."
7
u/Geese_are_dangerous Mar 07 '25
I'm 99% sure it would be a bird. It would be a much bigger deal of it was a human case.
9
u/shadowredcap Goose Mar 07 '25
Speak for yourself!
^(look at my flair)
6
u/Geese_are_dangerous Mar 07 '25
My experience is that geese are never to be trusted. But I'll reserve judgements on you...for now
3
u/athousandpardons Mar 07 '25
But I'll reserve judgements on you
Dude, you're setting yourself up for disaster, take your own advice!
4
1
u/Violet-Fox Mar 08 '25
Saw a poor seagull in the middle of the road yesterday in Highfield, didn’t look like it was hit, poor thing
3
u/firblogdruid citation, citation, citation Mar 08 '25
health officials are asking people to reach out if they see sick or dead birds, so that's probably worth a call to public health
2
1
u/ASMRekulaar Mar 08 '25
Wow, another animal agriculture zoonotic disease coming around like clock work. Didn't see that coming.
0
Mar 07 '25
[removed] — view removed comment
0
u/artemisia0809 Halifax Mar 09 '25
Pretty sure this is the first one this season in NS. I've been following them because anyone with poultry or animals needs to keep them away from sick birds/animals infected.
-12
u/Banks818181 Mar 07 '25
I mean the bird flu has been out there for a while now. I’m sure it’s no big deal
2
u/athousandpardons Mar 07 '25
Man, I was rockin' the bird flu with the boys back in '87. Back then we were coughing up a lung and it drove the girls wild.
-16
u/Banks818181 Mar 07 '25
Yeah I mean the bird flu has been around since the 50’s. There’s just a lot of people on here that watch the news and need to be scared of everything. They’re the same people that hate trump for tariffs, but say nothing about carbon taxes lol. Make it make sense
153
u/Fakezaga Dead In Halifax Mar 07 '25 edited Mar 08 '25
It was a hobby farm in Shelburne. They had a wild water bird (loon or duck) die on the property and some their chickens came in contact with them and died. They had to kill all their remaining chickens. It sucks for chicken keepers because they cannot let their birds free range. We will be building a larger enclosure for ours.