Kankakee Times

Rep. Jackie Haas (Kankakee) recently shared the Illinois Department of Natural Resources' warning about avian influenza found in bird feeders.

“The IDNR is recommending that the public temporarily take down bird feeders and bird baths to prevent the spread of avian influenza,” Haas wrote on Facebook.

The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention reported that 35,515,949 birds have caught the virus.

The IDNR issued a release on April 21 about the EA H5N1 strain of  Highly Pathogenic Avian Influenza (HPAI) currently impacting some wild and domestic bird species.

HPAI has not been detected in songbirds, but IDNR is recommending the removal of feeders and baths.

The CDC reported in Illinois that avian influenza infected the state on March 31.

“We know that it arrived in Illinois at least a couple of months ago, the first case we had was a waterfowl mortality event, that was on Braidwood Lake,” IDNR Wildlife Programs Manager Nathan Grider said, according to WFIR.

IDNR also recommends the following:

People should clean and rinse bird feeders and baths with a bleach solution that is 9:1 water to bleach before putting them away or clean them with the bleach solution weekly if they cannot be moved. Birdseed should not be left at the base of feeders to discourage birds from gathering. 

And, if you find five or more dead wild birds in a location, contact an IDNR district wildlife biologist. For a list of district wildlife/hunter heritage biologists, visit its contact webpage. The USDA Wildlife Services also may be contacted at 1-866-487-3297.

“We think it came over from Europe and Asia. So, it is hitting raptors pretty hard, as I said also water fowl, and poultry are very vulnerable to it,” Grider said.

NBC5 Chicago reported that there have been at least two known backyard or commercial outbreaks in Illinois. A mass-death event in Cook County can be attributed to the virus.