Game and Fish Department requesting help monitoring West Nile virus

SHERIDAN (WNE) — To monitor West Nile virus in the state, the Wyoming Game and Fish Department is requesting that residents report any dead sage grouse to the department.

There are currently no signs of an outbreak, and this is an annual request.

Testing dead birds helps Game and Fish monitor the disease’s scope and impact. Evidence of the disease has been reported in past years in northeast Wyoming and surrounding states.

Sage grouse has a low resistance to the disease, which is spread by mosquitoes and is usually fatal to the birds.

Nyssa Whitford, Game and Fish sage grouse/sagebrush biologist, said the summer’s drier conditions are less favorable for mosquitoes, and despite the region not having an outbreak of West Nile virus in sage grouse since 2003, monitoring is still important.

The Game and Fish Department is especially interested in sage grouse found in remote areas with no other obvious causes of death. These birds may be near water holes or hay fields on private lands. Obvious roadkills do not need to be reported.

For people who want to collect found carcasses, the chance of getting West Nile virus from handling a carcass is limited, though individuals are advised to pick them up with an inverted plastic sack or gloves.

The bagged carcass should then be placed into another plastic bag, preferably a trash bag, tied and taken to a Game and Fish Regional Office. If the carcass can’t be quickly delivered to a regional office, it should be placed in a freezer. The locations of Game and Fish Regional Officers are available by seeing wgfd.wyo.gov/regional-offices.

This story was published on July 25, 2024.