Pennsylvania Game Commission: It's Safe To Feed Birds Again After Mysterious Illness Causes Dozens Of Deaths
By: KDKA-TV News Staff
PITTSBURGH (KDKA) -- The Pennsylvania Game Commission says it is safe to feed the birds again after a mysterious illness caused dozens of deaths.
On Friday, the Game Commission and Audubon Society announced it is safe to place bird feeders and birdbaths outside.
The Game Commission and experts from the Wildlife Futures Program at Penn Vet were investigating dozens of reports in June of songbirds that were sick or dying because of an "emerging health condition." Officials say reports of sick birds have decreased in recent weeks
"A cause for the sickness has not been identified. Testing at the Pennsylvania Animal Diagnostic Laboratory System and New Bolton Center ruled out avian influenza, West Nile Virus, Newcastle Disease Virus, Salmonella, Chlamydia, herpesviruses, poxviruses, and Trichomonas parasites," the Audobon Society said in a release.
Residents of Western Pennsylvania were urged to take preventative steps and remove bird feeders from their yards in order to help contain the spread of any disease into our region.