Calgary Zoo taking precautions amid avian flu case in southern Alberta

The Wilder Institute’s Calgary Zoo is taking measures to protect their bird populations following the discovery of avian flu south of the city.

In a social media post Thursday, the zoo said it is playing it safe by imposing protocols to prevent the illness that led to the destruction of hundreds of thousands of farm birds four years ago from infecting the attraction’s exhibits.

“The health and well-being of the animals in our care remains our top priority,” the zoo stated.

“Out of an abundance of caution, we’re proactively implementing measures to protect our avian species.”

Those measures include footbaths to be used by visitors, staff and contractors at the entryways to African Rainforest Aviary, the Larry Ruskin Penguin Plunge, the Jihad Shibley Rocky Mountain Aviary.

Weather permitting, birds in those enclosures will be allowed outside access, they said.

They made that decision after noting the Canadian Food Inspection Agency had identified a case of the highly pathogenic avian influenza within 200 kilometres of the zoo.

On its website, the CFIA indicates it detected a case of avian flu in a non-commercial, non-poultry setting in Foothills County on Oct. 20. It’s listed as being under CFIA quarantine.

Still fresh in the minds of poultry producers is the massive H5N1 avian flu outbreak of 2022, of which Alberta was the epicentre.

Due to the rampant spread of the disease that’s carried by migrating birds, about 1.4 million commercial or backyard poultry birds were destroyed in Alberta to halt the infection. The province says an early season tally that year placed the number of large and smaller flock directly impacted by the disease at 31.

The province said normally, the disease wasn’t fatal to birds but that changed dramatically in 2022.

“In spring 2022, the virus killed migrating geese and ducks on all four North American flyways,” it stated. “It killed lots of waterfowl and quite a few other birds, and some mammals, that ate live or dead infected waterfowl.”

The following year saw the number of avian influenza cases plummet dramatically with only two outbreaks in domestic birds.

But the infections returned in a big way in 2025 with 24 outbreaks in the province.

This year, there’s been a total of 10 outbreaks in Alberta with another one also detected Oct. 20 in the County of Northern Lights. Of those outbreaks, eight involved commercial operations.

Producers spoke on conditions of anonymity, citing the potential for bad publicity on the flu issue or unwanted attention from animal rights activists.

One farmer northeast of Calgary said there’s always the possibility of his flock contracting avian flu.

“Avian flu is always a concern to the poultry farmer — it’s carried by migratory birds that can go anywhere,” said the man, whose operation contains 37,000 chickens.

Biosecurity protocols are always followed, which include changing his shoes every time he enters a chicken enclosure and disinfecting the shoes of all visitors, said the producer.

In 2022, he said the closest infected farm to his that was quarantined was about eight kilometres away.

Another producer north of Calgary who considers herself a small producer said she’s not overly concerned with the latest outbreaks but added it can’t be taken lightly.

“It’s (avian influenza) always around, we always have to keep our birds indoors . . . if you get it, you’ve got to kill your birds,” said the woman.

“But it’s not a big deal anymore —  we just deal with it.”

She said there’s a higher risk of contamination when a farm is close to ponds or rivers that attract potentially infect waterfowl.

The disease seems to mostly impact larger operations, which is ironic since “since all their birds are locked up inside,” she said.

Human fatalities from avian flu are rare but have occurred in a number of countries around the world, including two deaths from 72 infections in the U.S. since early 2024, but there’s been no confirmed person-to-person spread.