Bird Flu In Sonoma County: Supervisors Declare Local Emergency

SONOMA COUNTY, CA — The Sonoma County Board of Supervisors declared a local emergency Tuesday following the detection of highly pathogenic avian influenza at two commercial poultry farms in southern Sonoma County.

The detection of the virus was announced Friday following an investigation by the California Department of Food and Agriculture and California Animal Health and Food Safety Laboratory System, in coordination with the Sonoma County Department of Agriculture and U.S. Department of Agriculture’s National Veterinary Services Laboratories.

To protect other flocks in the region and elsewhere in California, approximately 250,000 birds have been euthanized in Sonoma County since November and the locations of the detected infected flocks remained under quarantine this week.

Although avian influenza is a highly contagious and often fatal disease in birds, the detected strain is considered low risk to human health.

The board's emergency proclamation Tuesday for Sonoma County provides additional public safety and emergency services to mitigate the effects of the disaster, including local emergency assistance for the impacted businesses.

It is one of four counties in California where the highly pathogenic avian flu has been detected among commercial flocks this year. In late November in Sonoma County, a commercial table egg layer lost 82,500 birds and a Sonoma County commercial duck breeder lost 169,300 birds. Duck breeders in San Benito and Fresno counties lost a combined 28,400 birds, also in November. In Merced County, a turkey farm lost 31,600 birds in late October.

Sunrise Farms near Petaluma and neighboring Reichardt Duck Farm were identified in news reports as the two affected facilities in Sonoma County.

"I want to thank county staff and leadership for spectacular work and a well-coordinated effort to address this agricultural disaster,” said Supervisor David Rabbitt, vice-chair of the Board of Supervisors.

By approving the emergency declaration, Rabbitt said the county hopes it can help provide resources to the workers at the facilities — one with 150 employees and the other with 70-80, he said.

Rabbitt said he was concerned about the potential financial impacts of this emergency on the entire agriculture community in Sonoma County.

"There are still in the South County one million farm birds within a five-mile radius of one facility" impacted by the avian flu, he said, and southern Sonoma County poultry farms are providing "hundreds of thousands of eggs each and every day" which supply the "food chain for the entire West Coast if not beyond."

The spread of the virus is promoted by wild birds, especially wild waterfowl such as ducks and geese, but many other wild bird species can also be a source of spread. As wild waterfowl migrate in the fall season, it means an increase in the movement of potential carriers of the virus.

"We need to promote and protect our local food shed and the agricultural producers who dedicate their livelihoods to producing food for our local populations and beyond," Sonoma County Agricultural Commissioner Andrew Smith said. "These producers are integral in maintaining and increasing food security in our communities."

Poultry producers and backyard flock and pet bird owners are urged to increase their biosecurity practices, including wearing clean or dedicated shoes and clothing, washing hands and preventing or limiting visitors to poultry and bird areas to reduce the risk of accidental exposure to the virus.

California poultry producers should keep their birds indoors through June because the cooler months are most frequently the time of year when spillover into domestic poultry happens, State Veterinarian Annette Jones said in Oct. 26 advisory (embedded below).

Clinical signs of avian influenza in birds include sudden death; trouble breathing; clear runny discharge from the nose, mouth and eyes; lethargy; decreased food and water intake; swelling eyes, head, wattles or combs; discolored or bruised comb, wattles or legs; and stumbling, falling or a twisted neck.

Poultry owners with flocks that have experienced any unusual or suspicious illness or deaths should call the Sick Bird Hotline at 866-922-BIRD (2473).

• RELATED COVERAGE: 250K Birds Killed In CA; Flu That Caused Egg Prices To Soar Continues

The Sonoma County cases are part of a nationwide outbreak of HPAI that began in 2022. Recent detections have been the Eurasian H5 strain of HPAI.

In late November, the USDA Animal and Plant Health Inspection Service added Bolivia to a list maintained on the APHIS website of nearly 70 regions worldwide considered to be affected by any subtype of HPAI.