Twenty big cats — including a Bengal tiger and four cougars — have died of bird flu in the past few weeks at an animal sanctuary in Washington state.
“This tragedy has deeply affected our team, and we are all grieving the loss of these incredible animals,” the Washington Wildcat Conservation Center wrote in a Facebook post.
The devastating viral infection carried by wild birds is spread primarily through respiratory secretions and contact between birds, and can also be contracted by mammals that ingest birds or other products.
The sanctuary is under quarantine and closed to the public to prevent the spread of the virus, the statement said.
The animals died between late November and mid-December, reserve director Mark Matthews told New York Times.
“We've never had anything like this; they usually die of old age,” he said. “It's nothing like that, it's a pretty bad virus.”
The news comes as bird flu continues to spread among livestock and poultry in the U.S. while severely infecting at least one person.
The sanctuary said it lost five African serval cats, four bobcats, two Canada lynx and a Bengal tiger, among others. Now there are only 17 cats left at the Center.
“Cats are particularly vulnerable to this virus, which can cause subtle initial symptoms but progresses rapidly, often leading to death within 24 hours due to pneumonia-like conditions,” the sanctuary said in its Statement on Facebook on Friday.
Bird flu has long infected poultry flocks in the United States. But the virus first began infecting U.S. cattle in March.
And as of April 2024, there have been a total of 61 human cases of bird flu in the U.S., according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.
The CDC says the risk to the general public remains low and there has been no sustained human-to-human transmission.
Most reported mild symptoms, although one person was hospitalized with a severe case of bird flu in Louisiana this month.
Last week, California Gov. Gavin Newsom declared a state of emergency over the state's dairy cow outbreak to help the government have “the resources and flexibility it needs to respond quickly to this outbreak.”