Updated April 2022

The Canadian Wildlife Health Cooperative and the Canadian Food Inspection Agency are currently responding to cases of avian influenza virus (AIV) in southern Ontario. AIV can infect wild and domestic birds but is unlikely to transfer to humans. AIV is a naturally occurring, contagious respiratory viral infection affecting birds. The current strain of AIV found in southern Ontario, H5N1, is known to spread quickly and cause mass bird mortality.

If you encounter an injured, ill or dead bird within a CVC conservation area, please contact CVC at 1-800-668-5557. If you are outside of a CVC conservation area, please contact the Canadian Wildlife Health Cooperative at 1-866-673-4781. Visit the Government of Canada’s website for additional information on AIV.

Posted June 13 2020

FACT SHEET ABOUT THE RANAVIRUS AVAILABLE HERE

A mass mortality event of frogs at Forks of the Credit Provincial Park was reported by a member of the public to the Canadian Wildlife Health Cooperative (CWHC) on May 20, 2020. Lenny Shirose (CWHC) shared this information and made a request for additional information from members of the public on an Ontario herpetofauna Facebook page. A local naturalist then shared photos of dead Northern Leopard Frogs from the Kettle Lake, taken on May 26th confirming the mortality event. Samples were requested from the site and it was confirmed that the cause was Ranavirus.

Ranaviruses are fatal and can infect amphibians, reptiles and fish.

May 29th a site visit was conducted by two Credit Valley Conservation Authority (CVC) staff members to determine the extent of the mortality event and observed approximately fifty dead Northern Leopard frogs in and adjacent to the Kettle Lake. A dead Green Frog was also observed nearby in the Credit River and submitted to the CWHC for testing. Test results confirmed Ranavirus in both the Green Frog and Northern Leopard Frog samples. A dead Fathead Minnow was also submitted, however results from PCR have not yet been received and will be shared when available. If you are in the area, please send observations of dead or lethargic frogs, dead fish (in addition to spills reporting) or visibly ill turtles to CVC staff member Jessica (jessica.consiglio(a)cvc.ca).

One of the concerns is potential movement of the virus into other areas.

Drying waders and equipment is not effective against Ranaviruses.

Here are some decontamination instructions and options to be aware of:

• Immersion for one minute in a dilute bleach solution is sufficient to neutralize Ranaviruses and has the added benefit of being readily available, as well as breaking down fairly quickly in the environment. Using necessary PPE (personal protective equipment), add 1part bleach to 19 parts water (e.g. add approximately 1 litre of bleach to 19 litres of tap water, or for smaller batches 50 ml of bleach to 950 ml of water).

• If bleach is not readily available, immersion of gear in undiluted ethanol (70% concentration of ethyl alcohol) has been proven to be effective at inactivating Ranaviruses with an exposure time of one minute. However, ethanol may damage rubber and plastics and should also be used with proper PPE.

• If available, submersion of gear in Virkon (prepared as per manufacturer’s recommendations) for one minute will also inactivate Ranaviruses.

CVC is not currently carrying out field work in the area and senior management will be briefed to determine next steps. However, in the interim when field work does resume, CVC’s Ecology and Monitoring group is planning to decontaminate all gear after accessing any forest, wetland or stream in the provincial park, in the vicinity of Charleston Side Road or further north at Charles Sauriol CA.