Wahiawa duck sanctuary loses birds to first confirmed avian flu cases in Hawaii

By Mika Miyashima

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    WAHIAWA, Hawaii (KITV) — Susan Wilkinson is heartbroken after the state euthanized more than 70 birds living at her duck sanctuary in Wahiawa.

This, after Hawaii’s first cases of avian flu were confirmed to have killed 20 of her rescued birds.

“It’s awful,” said Wilkinson. “It’s an absolute nightmare I’m living in right now. Everything that I worked so hard for, my entire life’s purpose is gone.”

Wilkinson is the founder of the nonprofit Susies Ducks, whose mission is to rescue, rehab and rehome ducks and geese.

She said she noticed the first death of a duck on Nov. 5.

“Over the next couple days, a lot more ducks started passing away,” she explained. “Just weird symptoms started showing up. I started reaching out to vets.”

Wilkinson’s goose Hector is one of the birds who quickly fell ill.

“She rushed him to me that evening and at 6:00, she rushed him in the door and he died in my hands,” said Dr. Brian Walsh, Medical Director of Feather & Fur Animal Hospital. “So it moves that quickly where they go from seeming totally fine, to maybe a little bit off, to just dying.”

Wilkinson said the symptoms ranged from a loss of appetite, to eye infections, unusual tiredness and neurological issues.

“We thought this was a mass poisoning happening on property,” she explained. “I was trying to get ground water testing and everything to see what was going on because we had no idea. In the meantime, I’m now finding wild little zebra doves passing away. One or two a day on my property which aren’t pets. Just the wild ones that fly around, and we didn’t know what that was and so it just brought a lot more concern as well.”

Dr. Walsh said he became concerned when he realized multiple birds, including indoor birds were getting sick, and advised Wilkinson to alert the state.

“That’s when I realized we were up against something much, much more serious than we originally suspected.”

After running tests and confirming the birds died from avian flu, the State Department of Agriculture decided to euthanize the remaining birds at the sanctuary as a precaution.

“I want people to take it seriously,” said Wilkinson. “I want people to know that this is out there right now. I don’t want to scare anybody, like a scare tactic, but I want you to take it seriously.”

Wilkinson’s property has been disinfected and will be quarantined for 120 days.

“The human transmission is extremely rare,” explained Walsh. “Human to pet transmission is extremely rare but cats can get it from eating birds, still rare but it happens. That’s probably the biggest risk. If you have your own pet bird or if you’re finding a bunch of dead birds outside, do not touch them, leave them alone and reach out to the state.”

You can report any unusual illnesses in poultry, livestock, other wild birds or animals to the state Department of Agriculture at 808-483-7102.

Wilkinson had previously taken some of the ducks to the Mililani Pet Fair on November 2, and several days later her first duck died.

The Department of Health said while the risk is low, as a precaution, anyone who touched a duck or a goose at the fair should monitor for flu or pink-eye symptoms.

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