Deadly bird flu found in Puget Sound harbor seal population

Some seals are being found dead around the north Puget Sound with their cause of death coming from an unexpected disease: bird flu.

Wildlife officials have confirmed that avian influenza, or bird flu, has made the jump from the wild bird population in the Salish Sea to the Puget Sound harbor seal population.

More on bird flu: Fight against bird flu continues despite Dept. of Agriculture precautions

Three adult harbor seals were confirmed to have tested positive for a Highly Pathogenic Avian Influenza H5N1 strain when they were found in mid-August, the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) said in a report.

This is as an ongoing outbreak of avian flu has affected wild populations of seabirds around Rat Island (Google map) and Marrowstone Island (Google map). Katie Haman, a wildlife veterinarian with the Washington Department of Fish and Wildlife, recently recovered 1,600 dead birds in the area and said that she was trying to minimize exposure to the seals, among other mammals.

“I think the fact that we only had five, I would like to think that number was lower than it could have been, because we were out collecting the carcasses and hopefully reducing that the transmission,” Haman said. “I hope that we are we’re in the clear, at least in the transmission from the birds to the mammals.”

Currently, evidence shows the virus is spreading directly from birds to seals and is not being spread from seal to seal. That’s important as a mammal-to-mammal spread could mean a higher risk of the virus spreading to humans. Bird flu can infect humans, but health officials say that risk is low.

“The discovery of HPAI H5N1 in seals brings to light the potential for cross-species transmission and highlights the complexity of managing infectious diseases in wildlife populations,” says Kristin Wilkinson, NOAA Fisheries’ regional stranding and entanglement coordinator said in a report.

Even so, beachgoers are urged to keep themselves and their pets away from animal carcasses. If you encounter sick, injured, or dead seals, call the West Coast Region Stranding Hotline at (866) 767-6114, and the Washington State Department of Health is advising residents not to touch the dead bird.

On the East Coast, however, about 500 gray and harbor seals have died from bird flu around the coast of Maine. NOAA declared an unusual mortality event for the area due to the unexpectedly high volume of deaths.

Last winter, an outbreak of bird flu occurred in the domestic population in commercial poultry farms, causing price spikes for eggs and meat, and forcing the euthanasia of more than 47 million chickens and turkeys.