You should avoid using your bare hands when handling any dead animals. Use gloves to place the carcass of the bird into double plastic bags and place the wrapped carcass of the bird in a garbage can.

If you find 5 or more dead birds contact your local DNR office. If you find less than 5 birds and they are Crows and Blue Jays contact your local health department for West Nile Virus sampling. If you find less than 5 birds that are not Crows or Blue Jays you should leave them where they are. If you do decide to dispose of dead birds pick them up without directly touching the dead bird by using a plastic bag or shovel.

Solid Waste Services collects dead animals from the public rights of way and will collect a dead animal placed at the curb. For more information, check www.cityofaustin.org/sws/animal.htm ; or call 3-1-1 or e-mail http://www.ci.austin.tx.us/sws/sws_info.cfm

If the cause of death of the bird is not certain, the municipal authorities should be informed immediately. They may send the bird for testing to find out whether or not it was infected with the avian influenza virus. In case of unusual death of poultry, the civic authorities must be informed immediately.

You may call 703-246-2300 (TTY: 703-591-6435) to report the location of a dead bird, or you may report it via e-mail by clicking here.

Because H5N1 highly pathogenic avian influenza (HPAI) virus has not yet been detected in the United States, it is unlikely that the bird would pose a risk of H5N1 HPAI infection to your cat, and no special precautions unique to avian influenza (AI) prevention and control are warranted. If the virus is found in the United States, and if it is found to infect wild birds upon which cats are likely to prey, you should contact your veterinarian for assistance.

Call me or email me right away and let me know the status of the birds. If I dont answer the phone, leave a message on my machine or send an email but Please contact me that very same day the birds arrive. If you suspect any problems with the birds on arrival you should contact me right away to see if anything can be done to save a stressed bird. Often times there are measures that can be taken to prevent the death of a bird that arrives in a stressed condition.

At the present time, we do not have the highly-pathogenic avian influenza in our birds in the United States. It's always best to avoid contact with any dead animal. If possible, leave the dead bird where you found it and let nature take its course.

State and federal departments of agriculture are routinely testing chickens for evidence of infection with the H5N1 avian flu and other poultry diseases. State and federal wildlife officials are testing wild waterfowl, such as wild ducks and geese, and shorebirds, such as plovers and sandpipers, for the Asian bird flu in only select areas of the state. Wildlife officials are NOT accepting backyard dead wild birds for testing for bird flu virus.

For every dead bird: Avoid direct contact with the dead bird. Use rubber gloves or put a double plastic bag over your hand. (Grocery bags will do if they are in good shape.) Invert the bags over your hand, grab the bird, wrap it up and tie off or seal the bags. If you are using gloves, place the dead bird into a double plastic bag, wrap it up and tie off or seal the bags.