ROCKY MOUNT, Va. – Update:
The DWR and Town of Rocky Mount confirmed Monday that the cause of death in the vultures was avian flu.
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The following statement was issued:
“Preliminary testing results have detected H5N1 highly pathogenic avian influenza (HPAI) in the black vultures that were collected from Rocky Mount last week. This is exactly as we expected it to be and is consistent with numerous other HPAI events in vultures in Virginia (and a number of other states) over the past several months.”
Town of Rocky Mount
Original:
Numerous state and local agencies were on the location of a wooded lot on the corner of Dent Street and Franklin Street due to a discovery of numerous dead vultures in a creek bed in Rocky Mount on Tuesday.
The Town’s Water Treatment Plant does not draw water from this very shallow creek and, thus, the Town’s water system is not impacted, officials said.
Further, out of an abundance of caution, the public is advised to stay out of the waterways in and around that area until the situation is fully assessed and cleared.
Shelby Crouch, PIO for the Virginia Department of Wildlife Resources, issued the following statement on Wednesday:
“Due to recent detections of highly pathogenic avian influenza in black vultures, the Department is treating this as a suspected case and is sending samples to be tested. DWR sends test samples to the University of Georgia - Southeastern Cooperative Wildlife Disease Study. DWR receives the results from these preliminary tests relatively quickly and results will be communicated with the Town of Rocky Mount. Anything with a positive result in the preliminary test then gets sent to the National Veterinary Services Laboratories for confirmatory testing. The USDA has a page that lists all the confirmed cases: www.aphis.usda.gov/livestock-poultry-disease/avian/avian-influenza/hpaidetections/wild-birds.”