LARAMIE - Test results for the first birds sampled in Wyoming for the highly pathogenic avian influenza have come back negative.

Cultures were taken from 50 Canada geese during a banding operation June 19-21 on Eden and Big Sandy reservoirs north of Farson. The birds were specifically tested for the H5N1 subtype of avian influenza as part of a comprehensive surveillance program across North America. The subtype has caused scattered human fatalities in Eastern Europe and Asia and experts believe if the disease entered North America it would most likely occur through Alaska.

The Game and Fish will collect about 500 additional samples - 400 migratory game birds and 100 shorebirds - this fall from species most likely to have migrated from Alaska. Those species include field checks of hunter-harvested pintails, geese, teal and sandhill cranes and shorebirds, including long-billed dowitchers and pectoral and buff-breasted sandpipers. The shorebirds will be netted and released with the help of the Audubon Society’s Casper chapter.

Dr. Cynthia Tate, Game and Fish’s assistant veterinarian, emphasizes the testing is for general surveillance only and the Game and Fish or Wyoming State Veterinary Laboratory will not be testing dropped-off birds as it does with deer and elk for chronic wasting disease.

The public is being asked, though, to notify the Game and Fish if five or more birds of the targeted species are found dead by calling Tate at (307) 742-6681, ext. 171.

Although the H5N1 strain has not been detected in North America, Tate still urges the public to take routine precautions when handling dead birds. "Minimize direct contact with wild dead birds," she said. "Wear rubber or latex gloves, or invert a plastic bag over your hand."

Even before the H5N1 strain came on the world scene, hunters have always been encouraged to dress their animals wearing rubber gloves, thoroughly disinfect knives and butchering surfaces and cook meat thoroughly.

A list and photo of the waterfowl and shorebird species targeted for surveillance, along with other information on avian influenza is available at the Game and Fish Web site at http://gf.state.wy.us, under the "What’s New" section.

(contact: Cynthia Tate (307) 742-6681, ext. 171)