Eugene Cascades Raptor Center has been caring for a variety of bird species since 1990. Just 15 minutes south from the University of Oregon campus, the center is a non-profit organization that offers tours, education and has a hospital to help treat sick or injured raptors.
The center has 30 birds that they call “educational ambassadors.” These birds will remain at the center for the rest of their lives.
“There are a few different ways these birds come to us to be educational ambassadors,” volunteer Sofia Bajenaru said. “Some of the birds were injured… something about them that means they are unreleasable, another way a bird may be unreleasable is if they have imprinted on humans.”
If a bird imprints on a human, it becomes dangerous for both the bird and for people because the bird becomes too comfortable around humans. Oftentimes, this means the bird cannot hunt or take care of themselves. Bird imprinting typically occurs from “well-meaning but misguided choices to try and rehabilitate the birds themselves,” Bajenaru said
As humans begin to get vaccines to combat the flu, birds soar into a flu season of their very own.
“Avian influenza is kinda like human influenza where it changes from season to season,” Jennifer Appleby Chu, the visitor services coordinator for the center, said. One of the main differences between human and bird flu is that avian flu is fatal for birds and, for the time being, there is no vaccine.
The illness follows migration patterns of birds that are commonly found near water, scientifically known as waterfowl.
“Waterfowls are the biggest carriers of the virus because they are not always affected by it, they also congregate in huge numbers, travel long distances, they can contaminate large bodies of water with the virus,” Appleby Chu said.
Some bird rehabilitation centers will not take waterfowl during the flu season because of the potential risk.
“We think about its effects on our facility; what are the ways this could get tracked in here and how do we prevent that from happening,” Appleby Chu said.
The facility only lets essential staff inside the hospital building. Each staff member that enters must soak their shoes in water and disinfectant footbaths. A lot of staff, including Appleby Chu, have shoes that are only worn at work.
The symptoms of the flu vary for every bird but they can include discoloration, drooping wings and sudden death.
“It is a virus that is constantly evolving and mutating just like any other organism, this year we are seeing it affect animals it wasn’t before, it has been found present in domestic cattle and occasionally canines,” Appleby Chu said.