MINNEAPOLIS - The federal government has announced plans to step up monitoring of wild birds for signs of avian influenza this fall. By doing so, the government hopes to provide an early warning of any resurgence for a disease that devastated poultry farms in the upper Midwest.
The U.S. Department of Agriculture issued plans Thursday aimed at minimizing the impacts on domestic poultry flocks if any bird flu viruses return or mutate in migrating waterfowl and other wild birds.
Federal and state biologists will collect approximately 41,000 samples from apparently healthy wild birds in targeted areas across the country, mostly from ducks shot by hunters.
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