Utah officials report that thousands of turkeys are dead after a farm in Sanpete County was hit with a highly contagious and deadly version of the avian flu. Officials with the Utah Department of Agriculture (DOA) confirmed the outbreak last week and said that 142,000 turkeys have already been killed or died from the disease on a single farm.
The announcement called the “depopulation” unfortunate. Utah is among the larger turkey farm producers in the U.S., DOA spokesperson Bailee Woolstenhulme said. “And so, we’re hoping it doesn’t spread throughout any more of our farms.”
It’s too soon to tell if the outbreak will have an effect on turkey sales during the holidays, Woolstenhulme said. Last year, the flu led to a rise in turkey prices to about $2 a pound, Utah Public Radio reported.
“We were hoping that we were going to get by this year without seeing any cases,” said Woolstenhulme. “Unfortunately, it was a larger turkey farm down there in Sanpete County that contracted the disease.”
The only other reported U.S. outbreak of the avian flu is in Jerauld County, South Dakota.
Federal and state teams are testing farms around the area to make sure the disease has not spread. The disease is spread by affected wild turkeys who carry it to domesticated turkeys.
So far, there are no human cases of this particular strain of flu in America, but officials still warned consumers to properly cook eggs and poultry to stay safe. Bird owners and farmers in Sanpete County have been asked to keep a close eye on flocks for any sign of avian flu.
Last year, Utah turkey farms were particularly hard hit, with farms in the Sanpete County area losing more than 400,000 birds, and 700,000 statewide. Authorities are acting quickly in hopes of avoiding losses that severe this year.
Symptoms of the disease include a high death rate among affected flocks, nasal discharge, decreased appetite and loss of coordination.
Before last week, the only reports of bird flu in recent months in the U.S. were sporadic appearances in backyard flocks or among wild birds such as ducks, geese and eagles.
Last year, bird flu cost U.S. poultry producers nearly 59 million birds across 47 states, including egg-laying chickens and turkeys and chickens raised for meat, making it the country’s deadliest outbreak ever, according to USDA figures. In Utah, 16 turkey farms, one egg farm and several backyard flocks were affected by last year’s outbreak.