‘The birds are back,’ Living Desert set to reopen bird habitats after avian flu precautions
Experts at the Living Desert Zoo and Gardens are now rolling back several bird flu precautions for their bird populations.
"As we started seeing bird flu spreading throughout the country and moving closer and closer to our location, we started putting in place our, animal protection plan, which we've developed for our bird population. In some cases, that meant moving our birds behind the scenes so they, could reduce the exposure to, wild bird population," Living Desert CEO, Allen Monroe said.
If you’ve been to the zoo recently, you may have noticed a netting protecting bird habitats.
Those behind the mesh have been deemed low risk for the bird flu, while others too vulnerable to interact with the public moved off-site. Birds like wild waterfowl and parakeets in Australian Adventure.
But the Living Desert says within the next few weeks, the netting will be removed, and several birds will be reintroduced to their habitats.
"We are going to be, opening up our bird habitats, our walk-through aviaries and removing a lot of the protective mechanisms we put in place to keep our birds safe and free of avian influenza, so that our visitors come out here once again and enjoy all the desert avian species that we that we love to come and see," Monroe said.
The zoo says every year they take precautions against the bird flu. However, like every flu season it comes in waves.
"We've been closely monitoring the incidence of bird flu here in local Riverside County. And the good news is that those numbers have gone down to zero for the last month."
