Kansas City Zoo moves some of its birds indoors in order to protect against bird flu

Birds in outdoor habitats at the Kansas City Zoo are being moved inside to protect them from an outbreak of the bird flu that has been documented in several states, including Missouri.

Being outdoors presents a greater risk to the bird population of contracting the virus, the Kansas City Zoo said in a Friday news release. The virus causes illness that can be fatal to birds and is primarily transmitted through bird-to-bird contact.

Some of the zoo birds may have been in contact with wild water birds in outdoor habitats, though there have been no positive cases confirmed by the veterinary staff. Those birds are being put in behind-the-scenes area, the news release said. They include trumpeter swans, red-crowned cranes, yellow-billed storks, African crowned cranes, saddle-billed storks and flamingos.

“Zoo leadership and veterinary health staff will continue to monitor the situation and make additional decisions as the outbreak continues,” the news release said. “Though we don’t have a specific timeline for how long this will endure, we hope that all birds will be back in their outdoor habitats this spring.”

The U.S. Department of Agriculture said Wednesday that the bird flu had been discovered in 14 states. In Missouri, the department confirmed a case earlier this month among a flock of commercial broiler chickens near the Bootheel region in Stoddard County.

The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention has said the bird flu strain poses little risk to humans and the matter is “primarily an animal health issue,” though the federal agency is monitoring the outbreak in case the virus changes to pose a larger human risk.