The first known case of avian influenza in Indiana has been reported in Whitley County.
The U.S. Department of Agriculture confirmed Monday that poultry at a backyard hobby farm near Columbia City has tested positive for the bird flu strain H5N8.
The site had been home to 77 chickens, turkeys, ducks and geese, which were euthanized and sent to laboratories at Purdue University and in Iowa over the weekend.
"The owner of the flock recently purchased the birds, and after a few days some of the birds started getting sick and dying," Denise Derrer, public information officer for the Indiana State Board of Animal Health, said Monday in a telephone interview.
The flock owner contacted the animal health board's office, which sent two veterinarians to the site Friday night to take samples and begin the testing process at Purdue and at a USDA lab in Ames, Iowa.
The hobby farm will be disinfected and under quarantine for 21 days, Derrer said, and neighboring poultry farmers are being contacted by state veterinarians.
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