Twenty big cats, including a Bengal tiger, four cougars, a lynx and four bobcats, have died after contracting bird flu at an animal sanctuary in Shelton, Washington.
The big cat deaths come as bird flu, a highly pathogenic avian influenza, has spread rapidly through poultry flocks and dairy herds in the US, infected and killed domestic cats, and caused a severe illness in a person in Louisiana.
The big cats died between late November and mid-December at the Wild Felid Advocacy Center, according to the center’s director, Mark Mathews.
“We’ve never had anything like it; they usually die basically of old age,” Mathews told the New York Times. “Not something like this, it’s a pretty wicked virus.”
Three other cats recovered from the virus, and one remained in critical condition on Tuesday. Last week, the center announced on Facebook that bird flu had affected more than half of its wild cats.
That came less than three weeks after the center said it was temporarily closed to the public, stating that some of the animals were experiencing an unknown illness.
“We, along with our veterinary team, are working tirelessly to determine the cause and come up with a solution,” the shelter wrote on Facebook.
But on 6 December, the center announced that animal health officials had confirmed the presence of bird flu in some of its cats, saying that it was working with federal, state and county animal health officials.
“As an animal sanctuary, we are equipped to manage viruses effectively by enforcing strict biosecurity measures, quarantining affected animals, and disinfecting properly to protect our other animals and the public,” the center said.
But in a Facebook post five days ago, the center said: “We are heartbroken to share that animal health officials have confirmed the presence of highly pathogenic avian influenza (HPAI) among over half of our wild felids as of December 2024.”
The center explained that bird flu can also be contracted by carnivorous mammals that ingest infected birds or other products.
“Cats are particularly vulnerable to this virus, which can cause subtle initial symptoms but progress rapidly, often resulting in death within 24 hours due to pneumonia-like conditions,” the statement said, adding the center was under quarantine and will remain closed to the public until further notice.
Only 17 cats remain in the sanctuary as it moves to determine the virus’s origin, which includes removing 8,000lbs of food that had been stored in a freezer, and disinfecting each habitat.
The Washington department of fish and wildlife said in a statement that it had confirmed avian influenza infections in “numerous” wild birds this fall, and had recently confirmed that two cougars in another area had the H5N1 virus.
The deaths come six days after health officials in Los Angeles said they are investigating three household cats presumed to have bird flu, as officials confirmed the disease in two other cats who had drunk recalled raw milk and died.
At a Texas dairy earlier this year, 12 barn cats died after drinking infected raw milk.
In California, bird flu has infected most of the state’s dairy cattle herds this year, with cows in 645 dairies testing positive for H5N1. There have been at least 61 human cases reported in the United States so far, with most of the individuals experiencing mild symptoms.
