A heron that died at Phnom Tamao Zoo and Wildlife Rescue Center has tested positive for bird flu, the virulent influenza strain that has killed 20 people and devastated the regional poultry industry, officials said.
The heron was one of at least 59 birds that died at the Takeo province wildlife center in a five-week period spanning December and January, administrators of the zoo said at a press conference Saturday.
It is the country’s third confirmed case of bird flu. Avian influenza had earlier been found in birds at two Russei Keo district chicken farms. Cambodia has reported no cases of humans contracting bird flu, which has killed six in Thailand and 14 in Vietnam.
The heron died in mid-January and initial tests of the carcass were inconclusive. It tested positive for the H5N1 virus on Feb 5 in a Pasteur Institute laboratory, said Dr Pin Lyvun, the zoo’s director.
Four parakeets who recently died at the zoo tested negative for bird flu, and the center is expecting results by Tuesday for five other birds, said Matt Hunt, an animal husbandry specialist with WildAid, the conservation group that supports the zoo.
The zoo’s bird section was closed to visitors this month in compliance with an order from the Ministry of Agriculture, Forestry and Fisheries, cautioning against the disease’s spread. A wide range of species fell victim in the outbreak, including birds of prey that have historically been immune to the virus, Hunt said.
Fearing a second outbreak earlier this month, the center killed more than 350 baby parakeets after about 80 mysteriously died, he said.
Center officials said the outbreak is contained but that keepers are persisting with safety precautions, such as suspending any exchange of birds at the center and feeding hawks and eagles beef instead of chicken. The zoo normally keeps about 400 birds.
Unlike its neighbors, Cambodia’s government has not ordered any mass killing of chickens, but thousands have been slaughtered in isolated trouble spots.
