Thedailymiaminews– The city of Minneapolis Days after Minnesota Governor Tim Walz approved more than $1.2 million to study avian influenza in wildlife, Louisiana health officials announced the first bird flu-related fatality in the United States.
A ballot question that was presented to voters in the November election is the source of the money. 77% of voters supported allocating 40% of the state lottery’s earnings to the Environment and Natural Resources Trust Fund.
Researchers at the University of Minnesota’s College of Veterinary Medicine will use the recently awarded funding to investigate the new threat posed by avian influenza. They will gather samples from wild birds and mammals and test them for the virus in collaboration with a network of tribal biologists and wildlife rehabilitators.
The Legislative-Citizen Commission on Minnesota Resources co-chair Nancy Gibson stated, “I have no doubt that we are just sitting on the edge of this disease, this virus.”
Gibson referred to the virus as a “time bomb,” stating that nobody is aware of its full scope, which puts both humans and wildlife at risk.
“Here, we’re seeing foxes, sometimes a whole den of fox kits have been killed, we’re seeing it in bears, we’re seeing it in bobcats, so it’s gone far beyond the realm of avian birds, waterfowl and raptors,” Gibson stated.
According to Professor Arno Wuenschmann, who will be working on the project, weekly results will be posted online.
“There are hot spots, as we have found out, and it’s good for farmers, for health agencies to know where those are at certain times of the year,” he stated.
In addition to providing statewide surveillance, they will investigate the virus’s adaptations.
“We should be on the watch-out for any mutations that would potentially enable this to also get into humans,” he stated.
Gibson hopes the piece might serve as a national model.
“This is not being done by other states. Here in Minnesota, we determine the trends,” she remarked.