Brown Bear Cub in Alaska, positive for H5N1
Highly Pathogenic Avian Influenza (HPAI) has been detected in a brown bear cub on Kodiak Island, Alaska. This is the first time HPAI has ever been detected in a brown bear. A deer hunter on Kodiak found the dead bear, a cub of the year, on Nov. 26. Knowing the Alaska Department of Fish and Game (ADF&G) is conducting wildlife health surveillance, he collected the carcass and provided it to Nate Svoboda, the state Area Wildlife Biologist for Kodiak Island. Svoboda notified ADF&G wildlife veterinarian Dr. Kimberlee Beckmen. Beckmen investigated a similar case in October when the public reported a sick, stumbling black bear cub in Glacier Bay National Park. That bear also tested positive for HPAI. Svoboda noted that there were no obvious wounds or clear signs indicating the cause of death, and that the cub looked emaciated. He shipped the carcass to Anchorage for necropsy and further examination. A pathological examination found indications of infection in the brain (meningoencephalitis), lungs and liver.
NVSL determined it was Highly Pathogenic Avian Influenza and the strain was the same H5N1 the black bear cub had.
