Avian flu outbreak wipes out record 50.54 million U.S. birds

CHICAGO — Avian flu has wiped out 50.54 million birds in the United States this year, making it the country’s deadliest outbreak in history, U.S. Department of Agriculture data showed on Thursday.

The deaths of chickens, turkeys and other birds represent the worst U.S. animal-health disaster to date, topping the previous record of 50.5 million birds that died in an avian-flu outbreak in 2015.

Birds often die after becoming infected. Entire flocks, which can top a million birds at egg-laying chicken farms, are also culled to control the spread of the disease after a bird tests positive.

Losses of poultry flocks sent prices for eggs and turkey meat to record highs, worsening economic pain for consumers facing red-hot inflation and making Thursday’s Thanksgiving celebrations more expensive in the United States. Europe and Britain are also suffering their worst avian-flu crises, and some British supermarkets rationed customers’ egg purchases after the outbreak disrupted supplies.

The U.S. outbreak, which began in February, infected flocks of poultry and non-poultry birds across 46 states, USDA data show. Wild birds like ducks transmit the virus, known as highly pathogenic avian influenza, through their feces, feathers or direct contact with poultry.

 “Wild birds continue to spread HPAI throughout the country as they migrate, so preventing contact between domestic flocks and wild birds is critical to protecting U.S. poultry,” said Rosemary Sifford, the USDA’s chief veterinary officer.

Farmers struggled to keep the disease and wild birds out of their barns after increasing security and cleaning measures following the 2015 outbreak. In 2015, about 30% of the cases were traced directly to wild bird origins, compared to 85% this year, the USDA told Reuters.

 

Government officials are studying infections at turkey farms, in particular, in hopes of developing new recommendations for preventing infections. Turkey farms account for more than 70% of the commercial poultry farms infected in the outbreak, the USDA said.

People should avoid unprotected contact birds that look sick or have died, though the outbreak poses a low risk to the general public, the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention said.

Fishtopher the cat finds forever home after his adoption listing went viral

Fishtopher, a 5-year-old cat, was reportedly "sad and depressed" as he sat at the Homeward Bound Pet Adoption Center in New Jersey waiting to be adopted.

The "Quiet" "Couch potato" seemed "out of sorts," the center wrote in its Petfinder listing. He would only "eat when he has company," and he "wouldn’t even look up for pictures."

But on Thanksgiving, Fishtopher's luck changed after a tweet sharing his Petfinder profile went viral. The tweet quickly amassed over 168,000 likes and 21,000 retweets. Many people in the replies shared their own cat adoption stories.

The shelter said in a Facebook post over the weekend that it received "hundreds of inquiries" about Fishtopher.

On Saturday, Laura Folts, 22, and her partner Tanner Callahan, 24, were the two who gave Fishtopher a forever home.

The couple said they drove two hours from Baltimore to Blackwood, New Jersey, to meet him.

Folts said that they became interested in adopting Fishtopher after seeing the tweet about him. They said they got to the shelter an hour before it opened, and there were eight or nine others who were there to see Fishtopher.

 “Knowing he was popular, we drove up to Homeward Bound with some hopes, but knew if not Fishtopher, we wouldn’t come home empty paw’d as we saw a few other cats online that we were considering," Folts said in a message to NBC News. "We arrived early enough to be the first ones and he was adopted!”

Folts said she and Callahan felt Fishtopher would be a good fit in Callahan's quiet apartment. The two have similar personalities because they're both "very quiet but still friendly once they opened up," Folts said.

Folts tweeted the journey home with Fishtopher. And after popular demand, she also started Twitter and Instagram accounts dedicated to her new pet.