‘Least we can do’: Okanagan stewardship society asks for temporary bird feeder hiatus

Okanagan Similkameen Stewardship Society is asking bird lovers to take down their bird feeders temporarily to reduce the spread of the avian flu.

“Bird experts are recommending that folks stop filling their bird feeders for a while,” reads a Facebook post from the stewardship society.

“As bird feeders promote extra congregation of wild songbirds and can increase transmission of the deadly disease… Helping them avoid the avian flu is the least we can do.”

The society is a grassroots charitable organization that works to conserve wildlife habitat in the Okanagan and Similkameen valleys.

READ MORE: Second B.C. farm positive for avian flu as virus found in backyard flock in Kelowna

The Ministry of Agriculture said a bald eagle recently found in Delta is positive for avian influenza, the second case among wild birds in B.C. since February, when the H5N1 strain was confirmed in the remains of a bald eagle in Vancouver.

A small backyard poultry flock in Kelowna tested positive for avian flu earlier this week, the second known outbreak of the disease among flocks in B.C. The highly infectious H5N1 strain of the illness was confirmed earlier this month on an Enderby farm in the North Okanagan.

— With files from The Canadian Press

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