Bird flu at West Lincoln poultry farm shuts aviaries at Toronto Zoo

Even though it’s 130 kilometres away, a case of bird flu at a West Lincoln poultry farm has shut down the aviaries at the Toronto Zoo.

The zoo posted on its website that it’s shutting down its aviaries “out of an abundance of caution” after Health Canada reported an outbreak of H5N1 at the poultry farm just days after another outbreak was reported at a farm in Chatham-Kent.

Toronto Zoo is worried that this strain of bird flu is so highly contagious that it can easily be transmitted over a great distance when infected birds co-mingle with the zoo’s flocks.

They have also discontinued the use of poultry as food for other animals, fearing that H5N1 can be transmitted to any species.

Health Canada has said that seven million birds have been affected coast-to-coast. With over 6,400 bird species in the country, Canada has as many as a billion and a half birds at any given time.