Salisbury Zoo stepping up bird flu precautions

SALISBURY, Md. – The Salisbury Zoo is stepping up precautions in the wake of several avian influenza outbreaks in our area.

That’s including special enclosures for birds, personal protective equipment, and testing.

“Keeping it out as much as possible, keeping it completely away from our babes is the best way to go,” said Ally Wright, Veterinarian Technician with the Salisbury Zoo.

The Salisbury Zoo has added new measures to help keep the bird flu out.

“We have a lot of potential exposure, so what we are trying to do is we’re taking preventative measures, taking some mesh coverings, putting them over a lot of the exhibits,” said Chuck Eicholz, Director of the Salisbury Zoo.

“Of course there’s still risk of droppings and such like that, but it really minimizes that and it also keeps wildlife less likely from entering,” said Wright. “Occasionally we’ll have song birds and stuff that want to enter, but the mesh and other deterrents will keep them from doing that.”

In addition to mesh coverings over certain bird exhibits, staff members are taking extra steps when in close contact with birds.

“We are really utilizing PPE or Personal Protective Equipment, so including like boots, gowns, gloves, we provide masks as well, face covers, whatever you could need,” said Wright.

The zoo is also taking preventative measures on vehicles entering the premises.

“We’re also requiring any vehicles that come through the zoo, whether they be our vehicles or not, if they’ve gone off grounds, they’re required to spray their tires just to keep anything from the roads out there out of our zoo,” said Wright.

Overall, Wright said the risk of exposure for the birds is relatively low due to the precautions they’re taking.

So far there have been no cases of Avian Influenza detected in birds at the zoo.

“The protections for the animals are super important, you just don’t want to spread disease whether that be this AI or anything else coming from wildlife,” said Wright. “A lot of disease, unfortunately, does come from wildlife or unfortunately, factory farms is where a lot of it originates, so we monitor what comes in and what comes out.”

The Salisbury Zoo is also testing some of its birds regularly to see if there has been any exposure to bird flu.