Island wildlife rescue facility implements avian flu precautions

Staff and volunteers at the Mountainaire Avian Rescue Society (MARS) in Merville are busy securing their property after the recent discovery of a case of avian flu in the Comox Valley. (CTV)

Merville, B.C. -

Staff and volunteers at the Mountainaire Avian Rescue Society (MARS) in Merville are busy securing their property after the recent discovery of a case of avian flu in the Comox Valley.

Safety measures include closing the facility's visitor centre to the public, as well as covering up its bird enclosures and limiting access to the property.

“This is a first for us, at least since I’ve been here, we’ve never had to do anything quite this intensive before in terms of quarantines and precautions,” says Kiersten Shyian, assistant manager of wildlife rehabilitation for MARS.

The precautions are being taken in order to protect the society’s “ambassador birds” and patients that are currently in the group’s wildlife hospital.

“We have a barrier now so people can’t get any closer to the hospital, we will be coming out to pick up patients from the public, we are doing a whole bunch of different sanitizing measures and things like that,” Shyian says.

Triage and safety protocols have been introduced to ensure no infected animals are brought into the hospital, but there are also safety measures being carried out to prevent wild birds from bringing in the infection.

“We are actually tarping over the roof of our ambassador enclosures, just to try to discourage any wild birds from landing on top and ending up pooping in their enclosure, so they do still have access to the elements but we are topping all the tops of the enclosures,” says Shyian.

Signage has also been placed on the property to notify the public that the centre is having to decline the donation of any poultry, waterfowl or eggs.