New York state officials want the public to help track cases of bird flu. The state Department of Environmental Conservation has added an avian influenza reporting form to its website, where New Yorkers can report sightings of dead birds, symptoms of sick birds and the birds’ location.
Interim DEC Commissioner Sean Mahar said real-time information will help the department stop the spread.
"DEC is working closely with our state agency and federal partners to monitor the incidence of Highly Pathogenic Avian Influenza affecting wild birds and the threat it can pose for domestic animals,” Mahar said in a statement. “I encourage New Yorkers to use this web-based tool to provide DEC with real-time information about locations of suspected outbreaks wherever and whenever they occur.”
Bird flu is highly contagious among birds. Two weeks ago, an outbreak at a Suffolk County farm led officials to cull almost a hundred thousand ducks. The virus was also detected in a backyard flock in New London County, Connecticut.