By MIKE COURSON
Great Bend Post
Avian influenza has again been grabbing headlines across the United States. On Tuesday, the Centers for Disease Control reiterated the current public health risk is low but H5 bird flu is widespread in birds worldwide and is causing outbreaks in poultry and U.S. dairy cows, and even 61 recent human cases in the U.S. Cheyenne Bottoms Wildlife Manager Jason Wagner said, in terms of migrating snow geese, the 2024 outbreak has been mild in Central Kansas compared to last year.
"Here, anyway, it's not been nearly as bad as it was last year," he said. "We're seeing maybe 10 die a day at the most. Last year, it was two or three times that. I don't know if we've lost 100 geese so far this year. Last year, I figured by the time it was done, it was about 1,500."
Wagner said snow geese began dying as soon as they showed up in the area this year. Cheyenne Bottoms is not unique to the spread of the disease, which officials continue to monitor.
"If you see a snow goose that just falls randomly out of the sky, or there's a snow goose walking down the middle of the road, it's probably avian influenza," Wagner said. We're pretty well-aware of the fact it's in the area. We've sent carcasses off and got confirmation that's what it is. There's not a whole lot we can do about it at this point."
Thirty-three of the human cases in the U.S. this year have been tied to dairy herds in California. Twenty more cases were split between poultry farms and culling operations in Colorado and Washington state. No human cases have been reported in Kansas.