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MARY-ROSE ABRAHAM: Scientists have already been watching for cases of bird flu in Alaska and American migratory flyways. Now the U-S Department of Agriculture will increase its surveillance and test up to 100-thousand live or dead birds. At a press briefing in Washington, U-S-D-A biologist Sue Haseltine announced the agency's new efforts.
SUE HASELTINE: "We are also putting more emphasis on investigating disease outbreaks in wildlife around the country that we see significant mortality events with."
ABRAHAM: The deadly strain of avian flu virus originated in Hong Kong in 1997. Since then, it has traveled west, infecting birds through Asia, the Middle East, parts of Africa and most recently, Europe. The fear is that the virus will mutate to a form that passes easily between people. The U-S-D-A is concentrating its efforts on Alaska, where the virus is expected to appear first via bird migrations. But Scott Newman, a conservation scientist with the Wildlife Trust, says migratory routes are not the only factor in the spread of the virus.
SCOTT NEWMAN: "The real bottom line is which species are traveling through these routes. And the species that travel and potentially could carry this disease, they exist on both the East and West Coast. I don't know that New York is at any greater risk than any other place. We have some risk if it is only migratory birds."
ABRAHAM: Newman says officials should also look at the live poultry trade and the illegal pet trade, both of which could introduce the virus. The migration factor is important for New York because the city lies in the path of what is called the Atlantic Flyway. The city is a transit center for millions of birds during the spring and fall, avidly observed by birdwatchers. Newman says birding groups and birdwatchers can help government efforts in monitoring birds.
NEWMAN: "This is a great way to allow the general public to be the eyes and ears in a surveillance mechanism."
ABRAHAM: The New York chapter of the Audubon Society currently has a bird monitoring program. Operation Safe Flight tracks migrating birds that accidentally collide with reflective glass on buildings. Program director Yigal Gelb says volunteers check for birds at buildings throughout Manhattan.
YIGAL GELB: "They either pick up the birds if they're dead so that we can continue researching them, entering their species and age and sex into a database that we have. And of course the injured birds are collected and taken either to a rehabilitator or if they're better by the end of the day, they're just released in a park."
ABRAHAM: Because of the threat of bird flu, Gelb says his chapter will revise guidelines for the bird assistance program. One thing under consideration -- instead of handling the birds, the volunteers may just photograph them. In the future, the chapter's monitoring programs and the observations of 10-thousand Audubon members and other birdwatchers may play an important role in tracking bird flu -- if and when it hits the city. Mary-Rose Abraham, Columbia Radio News.