By MIKE COURSON
Great Bend Post
GREAT BEND — The drought continues to hamper business as usual in and around Cheyenne Bottoms. A recent count around the Bottoms turned up just 61 documented species in the area, compared to 75-85 in a typical year. As it turns out, that could be a good thing. Kansas Wetlands Education Center Director Curtis Wolf said the lack of birds this year could be preventing mass outbreaks of avian influenza.
"Those huge concentrations like that, as with any of those viral-type things, that's how it gets spread," he said. "When we're, on a typical year, holding 200-300,000 geese at Cheyenne Bottoms, that's a lot of birds in a small area and you can have those outbreaks."
In April 2022, the Smithsonian reported at least 36 bald eagles in 14 states had died of the H5N1 strain of highly pathogenic avian influenza (HPAI). Two of those eagles were found in Kansas. Wolf said the bird most affected around Kansas has been the snow goose which, in turn, can lead to the infection of other birds.
"They love to eat snow geese, especially dead and sick ones," he said. "When you have a snow goose that's died of avian influenza, there's a good chance it can get passed on to those bigger predators."
Colorado is enduring its worst-ever avian flu outbreak with more than 6.4 million poultry deaths. Nationwide, the illness has killed more than 57 million animals. Since March 2022, there have been 12 known cases of HPAI in 11 Kansas counties, all east of Barton County.
Experts say the current strain, unlike the episode in 2014-15, is being spread by wild birds that often show no symptoms despite being infected. HPAI poses little threat to humans but can kill 90 to 100 percent of infected chickens within 48 hours. A lack of immune response to the new virus is likely to blame. Egg prices, meanwhile, are on the way back down after more than doubling from $1.79 to $4.25 per dozen, according to the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics.