‘Wicked’ bird flu kills 20 big cats in Washington park

Twenty big cats, including a half-Bengal tiger and four cougars, died between late November and mid-December at a sanctuary in Washington state after becoming infected with bird flu, according to the facility’s director.

“We’ve never had anything like it; they usually die basically of old age,” said Mark Mathews, founder and director of the Wild Felid Advocacy Centre in Shelton, Washington. “Not something like this, it’s a pretty wicked virus.”

An adult female mountain lion, or cougar in a national park, Southern California.Credit: AP

Three other cats had recovered from the virus, and one remained in critical condition Tuesday, he said.

The sanctuary said in a statement the facility was under quarantine and would be closed until further notice while the habitats were sanitised.

The virus began to present itself in November within the cougar population, with several cats developing pneumonialike symptoms. Within days, other species began to show signs of illness.

On November 23, the first cat, a cougar, died, and several others began to become increasingly ill in the following days. An African serval was the last cat to die, on December 13. Some of the cats shared a common wall between their habitats, but did not directly interact.

Only 17 cats remain in the sanctuary, Mathews said.

Mathews said that the sanctuary was working with officials to determine the virus’ origin, though it has been difficult to pinpoint how it entered the grounds. Wild bird droppings might have entered the cat habitats, or the meat used to feed the animals could have contained the virus, he said.

The sanctuary removed 3600 kilograms of food that had been stored in a freezer to prevent any further infections, and it started a sanitation process, which could take months to complete.

“We have to go through and disinfect each habitat,” Mathews said. “Any straw or organic matter needs to come out and be bagged and then burned, and then we have to disinfect again. Then we have to let it set for a couple weeks.”

A Canada lynx is released in Schoolcraft County in Michigan’s Upper Peninsula.Credit: AP/File

Workers at the sanctuary have been wearing protective clothing and N95 masks, and they are sanitising their shoes to prevent any virus particles that could remain from spreading.

Cats are particularly vulnerable to avian influenza. A new version of the bird flu virus, H5N1, emerged in 2020 and has been rapidly spreading around the world, infecting birds and mammals.

The Washington Department of Fish and Wildlife said in a statement this month that it had confirmed bird flu infections in “numerous” wild birds this northern autumn, and had recently confirmed that two cougars in another area, Clallam County, had the H5N1 virus.

Last year, two outbreaks of bird flu spread in cat shelters in Seoul, South Korea, where investigators later determined the source to be raw duck meat fed to the cats.

In California, bird flu has infected most of the state’s dairy cattle herds this year, with cows in 645 dairies testing positive for H5N1. There have been at least 61 human cases reported in the US so far, with most of the individuals experiencing mild symptoms.

The Wild Felid Advocacy Centre in Washington takes in big cats who have not been properly cared for, or whose owners could no longer care for them.

In addition to the half-Bengal tiger, named Tabbi, and four cougars, Hooligan, Holly, Harley and Hannah Wyoming, the dead included an African caracal, named Crackle; two Canada lynx cats, Chuckie and P’uch’ub; a Geoffroy’s cat, Mouse; a Bengal cat, Pebbles; a Eurasian lynx, Thumper; and four bobcats and five African servals, according to the sanctuary’s statement.

“It looks like the virus has taken its course,” Mathews said. “We’re just trying to make the one that’s incapacitated now just a little stronger.”

This article originally appeared in The New York Times.