Three animals in Colorado, each of them now dead, tested positive for the highly pathogenic avian influenza that’s sweeping across the country, state wildlife officials said in a release.
The H5N1 variant of the bird flu is ravaging bird populations across the world. Mammals, including humans, can also catch it.
State Parks and Wildlife officials first confirmed this strain of the bird flu among wild geese in northeast Colorado last March, agency spokesman Travis Duncan said in a release. Now they’ve confirmed three cases of the virus in mammals, which showed signs of neurologic symptoms, general weakness and organ damage before their deaths.
