The first cases of Avian Flu have been confirmed at Wahiawa Duck Rescue.
According to the owner of a Wahiawa duck rescue, she initially believed her animals had been poisoned when it was first found at her organization.
This one duck rescue has resulted in an astounding amount of bird deaths. Thirteen wild zebra birds and twenty rescued waterfowl were discovered dead.
The creator of the duck rescue was horrified when the state agriculture agency chose to put down over 70 birds on the Wahiawa site.
Susan Wilkinson, the creator of Susie’s Duck Sanctuary, claimed in a heartfelt Instagram post that her waterbird refuge in a residential neighborhood of Wahiawa was the site of Hawaii’s first avian flu detection.
“It’s not a government conspiracy. It’s not a joke. It’s so bad. It’s so bad,” she said.
Wilkinson wants the public to take the deadly bird virus seriously, but she did not disclose her precise location. She claims that two weeks earlier, twenty of the waterbirds, ducks, geese, and a swan she had saved perished quickly.
While some were sluggish and suffered from neurological disorders, others showed no signs at all.
“They were having like twitches in their head and their necks were twisting, so very neurological. There’s this whole gambit of symptoms that we just didn’t, couldn’t put it all together,” Wilkinson said.
After contacting state officials, Wilkinson’s veterinarian tested the dead birds and confirmed that they had avian flu.
The Department of Agriculture chose to put more than 70 birds at the refuge to death in order to stop the spread of the deadly bird virus, according to state veterinarian Dr. Isaac Maeda.
“The decision was made because of the fact that this was the first detection that we’ve had,” he said. “What we want to do is try to get rid of the viral load to prevent further spread.”
