Twenty big cats at a wild animal sanctuary in Shelton have died from the bird flu.
It happened within a matter of days around Thanksgiving, and now the non-profit is preparing to clean so it can reopen to the public next year. The Wild Felid Advocacy Center announced more than half of its big cats as of December have been infected with bird flu.
“It’s been one big nightmare. I never thought something like this would happen to us,” Wild Felid Advocacy Center Director and Co-Founder Mark Mathews told KOMO News.
“Maybe only at a facility that had cats near each other, and ours are spread out over five acres.” The tragedy has deeply affected the sanctuary workers who are grieving the loss of 20 animals that were part of worldwide wild cat conservation efforts. They include tigers, cougars, lynxes, bobcats, and other big cats.
“Tabbi, she was my favorite tiger,” Mathews added. “Before Thanksgiving, we had 37 cats. Today, we have 17 cats, [including] four recovering.”
“Usually, when a vet comes out and they do immobilization, they start to feel better, and with Harley [the cougar], it was different because he made it pretty obvious he wasn’t feeling better after his treatment,” said Jolie Connolly-Poe with the sanctuary.
The viral infection carried by wild birds can spread through respiratory secretions and bird-to-bird contact and can impact other mammals that eat birds or bird droppings.
This comes as the Washington Department of Fish and Wildlife reports avian influenza cases are on the rise across the state. Cats are particularly vulnerable, and symptoms happen fast, often killing the animals within days from conditions like pneumonia.
“[I’m] feeling devastated. Kind of in shock. It just feels terrible that you take such good care of them, and then something unforeseen takes its toll real fast,” Connolly-Poe said. “Just taking good care of those recovering.”
Mathews explained in his 20 years running the sanctuary, he and his volunteers never experienced anything like this. Now, the non-profit is taking extensive measures, like washing boots and suiting up in PPE before entering the sanctuary as they prepare to disinfect everything.
