USA Today Officials in Arizona this week said nearly a half-dozen animals including a cheetah and a mountain lion at a Phoenix-area zoo died and others are sick after being exposed to the bird flu.
Maricopa County Department of Public Health officials reported the Wildlife World Zoo and Aquarium in Litchfield Park, about 20 miles west of Phoenix, transported the ill animals to the Arizona Department of Agriculture to conduct testing that indicated they were likely exposed to avian influenza, a viral disease that mainly impacts birds.
Two big cats and three large birds − a cheetah, a mountain lion, a swamphen, a kookaburra and an Indian goose − died after contracting the virus, Jolene Westerling of the Wildlife World Zoo told USA TODAY Friday.