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quebec Quebec becomes Canada’s seventh province with avian flu H5N1 is confirmed in three wild geese in the province Highly pathogenic avian influenza (HPAI) has now been confirmed in Quebec, making it the become the seventh Canadian province where HPAI has appeared. No commercial poultry flocks have been affected by HPAI in Quebec, but it has been detected in three wild geese, each in a different area. Quebec’s Ministry of Forests, Wildlife and Parks posted a message on its Facebook page on April 4 that an H5N1 variant of HPAI had been confirmed in a Canadian goose in Granby, in a snow goose in Saint-jean-sur-le-Richelieu and in another snow goose in Saint-Isidore-de-La-Prairie. The ministry stated that the discovery of HPAI in Quebec “was expected,” since the virus has been circulating elsewhere in Canada and in the United States. The other Canadian provinces to have confirmed cases of HPAI are British Columbia, Ontario, Prince Edward Island, Newfoundland and Labrador, Nova Scotia and New Brunswick. However, of those provinces, only two of them have had confirmed cases in commercial poultry. Ontario has had three of such cases, while Nova Scotia has had one. At least three of those commercial cases have been in turkey flocks, while officials have not yet announced what species was involved in the third commercial case reported in Ontario

zoos Zoos hide birds as avian flu sweeps North America So far no outbreaks have been reported at zoos, but there have been wild birds found dead that had highly contagious and potentially deadly avian influenza. Zoos across North America are moving their birds indoors and away from people and wildlife as they try to protect them from the highly contagious and potentially deadly avian influenza. Penguins may be the only birds visitors to many zoos can see right now, because they already are kept inside and usually protected behind glass in their exhibits, making it harder for the bird flu to reach them. Nearly 23 million chickens and turkeys have already been killed across the United States to limit the spread of the virus, and zoos are working hard to prevent any of their birds from meeting the same fate. It would be especially upsetting for zoos to have to kill any of the endangered or threatened species in their care.