An avian flu outbreak at a Colorado commercial egg facility prompted Gov. Jared Polis to declare a disaster emergency Tuesday, allowing the facility to receive state assistance. As reported by ABC affiliate Denver 7, officials say that 1.78 million chickens will also have to be killed after samples submitted to Colorado State University from the producer tested positive for highly pathogenic avian influenza (HPAI).
“Why you're seeing [bird flu] more in northern Colorado is because we have a big concentration of livestock operations in this area. So we're seeing it in domestic poultry and then also cattle," said Dr. Kristy Pabilonia, who leads the lab, in an interview with the outlet. “Whether that's commercial poultry or backyard flocks is really devastating because of that high mortality rate ... With birds, the response is typically to depopulate them because they are very sick and they're not going to survive influenza.”
