The highly pathogenic strain of avian influenza devastated Sonoma County poultry farms last fall and winter.

No one knows if this year’s bird flu season will be as deadly. But it starts earlier.

A bird flu infection has been confirmed in a non-commercial flock of birds in southwest Santa Rosa, according to the birds’ owner and Mike Weber, co-owner of egg facilities under the Sunrise Farms and Weber Family brands. Farms, one of the farms in the area. the largest producers.

The California Department of Food and Agriculture did not confirm the outbreak until 5 p.m. Friday. A state veterinarian is reportedly en route from Redding to the affected property.

Meanwhile, residents grimly prepared what they believed would be the euthanasia of their entire flock of at least 55 pet birds. Federal agriculture officials were on hand to assist with bird removal.

“The people (at the U.S. Department of Agriculture) asked us to gather our remaining birds into a stall so they could kill them, and I just started crying,” said Julie Meyer, who lives on Primrose Avenue with her husband Dick. “It goes against everything my heart beats for.”

The case is likely to raise alarms in the county’s agricultural belt, which operated under strict site lockdowns and other enhanced protocols during a countywide state of emergency began nearly a year ago and resulted in a loss of $20 million for businesses.

Between late November 2023 and early January 2024, the federal Department of Agriculture’s Animal and Plant Health Inspection Service mapped the spread of highly pathogenic avian influenza, or HPAI, in 10 separate poultry facilities around Sonoma County. The virus has caused the destruction of more than 1.2 million birds, including chickens and ducks raised for their eggs and meat.

The county had not seen a confirmed case in a backyard flock since January 2023.

As local poultry businesses prepare for a potential new wave of bird flu, its appearance before Halloween is sobering.

And heartbreaking for Julie Meyer.

“They’re so entertaining,” she told The Press Democrat. “You know that Muscovy ducks have their own language and that they talk to each other? They don’t gossip. They whistle and talk. In the evening we will just sit in our chairs and watch the birds interact. Our chickens are raised by hand. And they are so entertaining and not stupid at all.

The Meyers had chickens, roosters, guinea fowl, geese, ducks, turkeys, peacocks and peahens, as well as chicks of several species. Most of them live freely, the peacocks being in an aviary. They have owned birds on more than four acres for 26 years, said Julie, whose middle name is Peacock.

“Every now and then one or two die,” she observed. “It’s the cycle of life.”

But the cycle accelerated Sunday, when the Meyers found two of their 4-month-old guinea fowl dead in their chicken coop. It seemed strange, but the couple did not suspect the larger forces at work. Then the deaths multiplied: a few hours later, it was chicken. A few hours later, a few ducks.

Meyer began calling local veterinarians. She made an appointment at Analy Veterinary Hospital in Sebastopol for Bob, the Meyers’ beloved (and then-ill) pet goose. It was Monday. By Tuesday morning, Bob was dead.

When Julie asked the hospital if she could bring another sick bird, they said no. He could be infected with bird flu.

Dick Meyer drove two dead birds to the pathology department at UC Davis on Wednesday morning. Friday morning, following the deaths of several other animals, the university called and confirmed that it was the HPAI variant, said Julie Meyer.

She called The Press Democrat that same day.

“We want to be responsible. And raise awareness among others,” she said. “It makes me sick to think how little I knew.”

The Santa Rosa case is only the second statewide this season. The first took place at a larger commercial facility in Tulare County on October 16.

Mike Weber, co-owner of a Sunrise Farms egg facility on Todd Road, a little more than a mile from the Meyers’ property, hailed Julie as a hero.

“This woman should be recognized for doing the right thing,” Weber said. “They noticed the birds, took them to the laboratory and are working with the state to minimize the risks. This thing is like wildfire, and they’re putting out that wildfire right now. »

Sunrise Farms was providing supplies and protective equipment to CDFA for the ongoing euthanasia effort. As soon as the company found out, Mike Weber said, he began contacting other poultry suppliers in the county.

“There is a real risk,” Weber said. “Birds are like virus factories. Once one of them becomes infected, it releases a huge amount of virus, which spreads to all kinds of birds in the area.

When they learned of the positive test, the Meyers began draining their pond, which had recently been home to migratory wild ducks.

“They would come in and eat the grain we gave out to the pet birds,” Julie Meyer said. “I was like, ‘Isn’t that cute?’ Now I know it’s not cute.

Sonoma County is on the Pacific Flyway, where approximately 1 billion birds travel from north to south each fall. These wild birds are a known vector of avian flu, transmitting the virus to commercial chickens and ducks through the respiratory system when in close proximity.

Recent interspecies transmission to dairy cattle has caused destruction of dairy products, but so far it has not proven as deadly to cows. Avian flu has also was detected in three people in the United Statesalthough all would present mild symptoms. Elsewhere in the world, at least five people have died from highly pathogenic avian flu since the start of 2022.

The Meyers sprayed parts of their property with diluted bleach and received additional instructions from the state.

“They told me, ‘Leave all your clothes and shoes in the barnyard when you go into the house,’” Julie remembers. “I said, ‘You’re a little late.’ We had been going in and out for two days.

On Friday, shortly before 3:30 p.m., representatives from the U.S. Department of Agriculture arrived, donned protective gear at the Meyers’ front door and set up trash cans that would be used to dispose of the dead birds.

They were waiting for Dr. Steve Lyle, a veterinarian in the Redding office of the state Department of Food and Agriculture. Julie Meyer remained hopeful that her peacock could be spared, but she wasn’t counting on it.

She also felt rather unlucky.

“How the hell did this happen to me and my birds?” Meyer said.

You can reach Phil Barber at 707-521-5263 or [email protected]. On X (Twitter) @Skinny_Post.