Nearly 20 million chickens, ducks and turkeys on farms in the San Joaquin Valley have been “depopulated” – a polite term for killed – as bird flu, or avian influenza, continues to infect poultry flocks across California and the U.S.
That’s almost 85% of all avian flu cases among both commercial and backyard flocks statewide since the current national outbreak of the virus began in February 2022.
But there are some signs that the virus may be slowing down…