Avian influenza suspected as hundreds of dead birds found on N.B. shores

Through his binoculars, Lewnanny Richardson scans the Factorie Bastien beachon New Brunswick's Acadian Peninsula.

The biologist with Nature NBspots what he's looking for a few hundred metres down the shore and adds one more to his total:350 dead birds since May 25.

"I've been with Nature NB for the last 22years," Richardson said. "I've never seen that."

It's part of a series of discoveries of dead birdsalong the shore, from the northeastern city of Bathurst, south to Port Elgin, near Nova Scotia. No hard numbers are available, though anestimated 1,000 of one species have been found in recent weeks.

WATCH | Biologist concerned as hundreds of dead birds wash ashore:

Dead birds are washing up on New Brunswick's northern and eastern coasts

2 years ago

Duration 4:04

A biologist is finding more and more dead birds washing up along New Brunswick shorelines, and avian influenza is the suspected cause

Similar discoveries were made around the Gulf of St. Lawrence on the shores of Quebec, Prince Edward Island, Cape Breton and western Newfoundland.

Avian influenza, orH5N1, is the suspected culprit in New Brunswick. Theviral infection also known as bird fluspreads easily among birds and affects wild and domesticated species.The virus spreads by bird secretions and droppings.

Richardson walks theAcadian Peninsula shore as part of apiping plover survey and normallycounts20 dead birds per summer.

On May 25, Richardson and his summer students counted three. Then more. Early on, he logged things like GPS co-ordinates for each one. Now he takes a photo, some basic notes, and keeps counting.

Most of the birds are northern gannets, which aren't normally found in New Brunswick. That's the speciesRichardson spotted washed up on the beachin the minutes since his colleagues walked the same shoreline.

"That northern gannet just died a couple of minutes ago," Richardson said after getting closer. "It's been washed [up] by the sea, so you can see it's super fresh."

"We're seeing a large-scale mortality event for northern gannets in the Gulf of St. Lawrence," Becky Whittam, manager of the wildlife andhabitat section at Environment and Climate Change Canada,said in an interview.

Whittamsaid an estimated 1,000 gannets have been found dead on New Brunswick's east coast. There have been "thousands" reported around the gulf region.

"Everybody is completely overwhelmed right now with just keeping up with these large scale mortalities," said Megan Jones.

Jones is the Atlantic regional director for Canadian Wildlife Health Cooperative andan assistant professor at the Atlantic Veterinary College in Prince Edward Island.

Joneshas been involved innecropsies, or examinations,andtesting a small number of the birds from New Brunswick.

Jones saidchanges in the northern gannets'brains, livers, lungs and other organs are consistent with avian influenza. Almost all are preliminary positive results through PCR testing, the same type of testingused for COVID-19.

Samples are sent to a lab in Winnipeg for confirmation.

Gannets found dead in Quebec and Prince Edward Island have been confirmed to havehighly pathogenic avian influenza, Whittam said.

Kaitlyn Lemaywas on her lunch break Tuesday at the wharf inSaint-douard-de-Kent when she spotted Department ofNatural Resources staff using all-terrain vehicles on the beach.

Curious, she approached and asked what happened. Lemay says she was told they had collected about 200 dead birds from the area around100 kilometres south of where Richardson has been counting dead birds.

Lemay said she was told the birds werenorthern gannets, cormorants and other sea birds.

She saw a trailer loaded with black garbage bags she said were full of dead birds.

"I have never seen this many dead birds on the beach," Lemay said in an interview.

The provincial Department ofNatural Resources deferred an interview request to the federal government.

A few kilometres down the coast from the wharf is the picturesqueBouctouche Dunes and boardwalk.

Joanne Jailletworksat the Irving Eco-Centre where 50 to 60 dead birds, mainly northern gannets, have been found over about a week onthe beach where they do guided tours with school children.

"I've been working here for 24 years now, and this is the first for us that so many birds are being picked upon the beach,"Jaillet said.

Back on theAcadian Peninsula,aDepartment of Natural Resources staff member was using anall-terrain vehicle to drive down the beach and collect the dead birds Thursday, placing them in black garbage bags.

The bags were piled into the back of a pickup truck. Bags filled with dead birds were starting to fill adumpster outside the DNR office in nearby Tracadie.

Richardson said the birds will beburied at a landfill to reduce the chance of infecting other animals.

Richardson said seeing species he's worked with for two decades dying in front of him is disturbing.

"I was saying toone of my staff yesterday, I would love to hug them and say, 'It's OK, you can die. Don't be afraid.'"

Jones said the number of deaths is extremely unusual for the region.

"We have never had an outbreak like this. We've never had an outbreak of highly pathogenic avian influenza in Atlantic Canada, anyway. But certainly, we've never seen one at this scale."

The dead gannets are believed to be from a nesting colony onBonaventure Island off Quebec's Gasp Peninsula.

It's one of sixgannet colonies in Atlantic Canada and Quebec.There are no colonies in New Brunswick. The birds, which are not considered endangered,fly from the island and feed at sea before returning to feed their young.

Whittam said there are an estimated 200,000 breeding gannets in Canada.

"They can withstand some of that mortality and bounce back in future years," Whittam said. "But we are keeping a close eye on the situation."

Another large colony is just off the Magdalen Islands, which Jones said is the suspected source of gannets coming ashore on Prince Edward Island andCape Breton.

Jones said the virus, or one similar to it,has circulated in Europe for a few yearsand showed up in Newfoundland before Christmas. Since then, it has spread across the Maritimes, Canada and most of the United States.

Jones and Whittam said a large number of scientists and officials in Canada are involved in tracking and trying to understand the bird deaths.

"We're looking at just characterizing exactly what the virus is doing to all of these animals," Jones said.

"There are also people looking at what's happening on the bird colonies going out on the ground to actually try to quantify this thing."

Avian influenza has prompted alarm about potential harm to poultry production. The highly pathogenic avian influenza was found in a small flock of chickens about 20 kilometres south of Moncton this spring.

A control zone that restricted live birds,bird products orbyproductsfrom being moved into or out of the area was lifted this week.

Jones said they've started seeing foxes test positive on Prince Edward Island, believed to be the result of eating sick birds. The risk to humans is considered low.

Those interviewed all warned anyone who finds asick or dead wild bird to not touch them.

Nick Brown, a spokesperson for the New Brunswick government, said in an email the province would respond to calls about dead birds on a case-by-case basis.

Jones said anyone walking dogs should be careful to keep them away from sick or dead birds.

The province said the birds should be reported to theDepartment of Natural Resourcesat 1-833-301-0334.