Minnesota Declares State Of Emergency After Bird Flu Kills 2.5 Million Turkeys

The governor of Minnesota has declared a state of emergency after highly pathogenic strains of bird flu resulted in the deaths of 2.5 million turkeys in the state. While the strains of this bird flu are unlikely to affect humans, it’s had a devastating affect on poultry.

The H5N2 bird flu is quickly moving through 46 different Minnesota farms. The National Guard have been called in by Gov. Mark Dayton to offer aid in quarantining the locations.

Earlier, two Ontario farms have also been confirmed by the Canadian Food Inspection Agency (CFIA) with H5 bird flu. The farms have been quarantined and testing is currently underway to find the subtype and strains they carry.

States in the midwest have reached a total of 7 million poultry deaths including chickens thanks to the bird flu.

Japan and Taiwan understandably have issued import bans on poultry as a result of this epidemic.

While this is a massive loss of poultry, no human illnesses have been reported.