Hoosiers finding birds with virus

SOUTH BEND -- Northern Indiana residents have turned in scores of sick or dead hawks and owls they suspect may have been infected with the West Nile virus.\n"The birds are listless. They can just sit there unaware of their surroundings," said Carole Riewe, director of Rum Village Nature Center, which has received several of the birds.\n"If they move, they could stumble and wobble," she said. "Sometimes there are side-to-side head movements like they are shaking their head 'no.'"\nThe staff at the center either inject the birds with fluids or force-feed them to keep them alive. About a half-dozen raptors have died.\nThe St. Joseph County Health Department is maintaining a database showing where dead birds are being found, said Tony Mancuso, director of environmental health.\n"Not a day goes by when we don't get a call from somebody finding a dead bird," he said.\nThis year, hundreds of birds of prey, particularly red-tailed hawks and great horned owls, have been found dead in Ohio, Indiana, Michigan, Kentucky, Iowa and Pennsylvania. Wildlife officials suspect the mosquito-borne West Nile Virus may be responsible.\nOn its Web site Friday, the Indiana Department of Health listed a hawk in Allen County and a falcon in Hancock County as testing positive for the virus, though it also listed unspecified wild birds in several counties.\nA kestrel that died at Potawatomi Zoo in South Bend tested positive for the virus, said Dr. Jeremy Goodman, the zoo's veterinarian.\nThe state Health Department has asked residents to help monitor the spread of West Nile virus by turning over dead birds, primarily blue jays, crows and hawks, to local health officials for testing. Those birds are particularly sensitive to the virus.\nMancuso said those finding dead birds should not touch the bird with their bare hands.\nRiewe recommended those finding a sick raptor try to trap the bird with a plastic laundry basket and secure it by placing a rock or brick on top of the basket.