And so we have an answer, of sorts, to all the questions about the dead Canada geese found in Verona Park lake since late February. The deaths are presumed to be highly pathogenic avian influenza (HPAI), a virus first detected in commercial chicken flocks on February 8. But not certain, because Verona’s birds have not been tested, even though County Executive Joseph N. DiVincenzo Jr. said that they had been sent for testing.
Since the chicken deaths started, wild birds have been dying all over New Jersey. Two weeks ago, the Verona Environmental Commission (VEC) posted to social media that it had discovered numerous dead Canada geese in Verona Park lake, and that it had reported the deaths to the state Department of Environmental Protection (DEP) Fish & Wildlife Division. The VEC also alerted the Essex County Parks Department because, despite its name, Verona Park is a county park. On March 6, County Executive DiVincenzo posted to his personal Facebook page that Fish & Wildlife had been notified, and that the birds’ cause of death “is not known.” The VEC, a voluntary advisory group that reports to Verona’s town government, has heard nothing from the county about its alert.
On Monday, MyVeronaNJ.com caught up with the county executive at a gathering in Newark and he said that he hoped testing results on the birds would be available at the end of the week. Yesterday, a county spokesman told this reporter by email that the county had not yet received results from Fish & Wildlife.
MyVerona also called Fish & Wildlife directly yesterday for information. Today, a spokesman for the division responded by email that “DEP has not tested any Canada geese at Verona Park this year. As a mentioned yesterday, we do not test every event. Due to species, clinical signs, and circumstances we would presume the cause of death is due to HPAI, consistent with other diagnostic testing performed around the state this winter in this species.”…