Dead ducks, geese and other birds have been found “everywhere” along a Long Island Beach — and experts fear they were wiped out by raging bird flu.
About 20 birds suspected of bird fly have turned up on an East Patchogue beach on the Great South Bay, reports said.
“They were everywhere, dead in the water, floating by the shore,” eyewitness Tim Jones told Newsday of the scene near his private waterfront community, Patchogue Shores, on Tuesday. “Some were scavenged.”
The New York State Department of Environmental Conservation told the outlet that local residents should “strongly consider” that the dead animals were contaminated with highly pathogenic avian influenza.
Although the risk of HPAI is low in people, anyone in contact with sick or dead birds should seek medical attention if they develop a cough, sore throat, eye irritation, and body aches, according to the Centers for Disease Control.
New York has had 485 confirmed cases of bird flu since January of 2022, according to the United States Department of Agriculture.
The presumed infection comes weeks after Long Island’s last remaining duck farm, Crescent Duck Farm in Aquabogue, was forced to euthanize nearly 100,000 of its livestock because of avian flu.
Since then, the farm has successfully hatched 3,700 chicks in an attempt to bounce back.
