Bird flu risks: Are petting zoos, goat yoga and farms safe activities?

Summer is nearly here, and with it comes farm visits, petting zoos and even goat yoga. But with bird flu cases on the rise, people may be left wondering if it's safe to get close.

Summer is nearly here, and with it comes farm visits, petting zoos and even goat yoga in the park. But with bird flu cases on the rise, Canadians may be left wondering: is it safe to get close to goats, chickens and cows?

The H5N1 avian influenza strain is a zoonotic disease that can jump from animals to humans. This raises concerns about how these summer farm activities might impact public health.

While bird flu has infected more than 90 dairy herds in the United States, causing three human cases since March, Canada has so far been spared. Here, the virus has been detected in birds and some mammals, like seals and foxes, but so far, cattle, goats and humans haven’t been affected.

But that does not mean we should let our guard down, warned Shayan Sharif, a professor and associate dean with the Ontario Veterinary College at the University of Guelph.

“I’m not going to say we should avoid going to petting zoos or zoos in general, but I would say try to minimize exposure in any shape or form that you can,” he told Global News.

“The reality is that this virus has spilled over to many different species of birds and mammals. Over 350 different species of birds have been infected, close to 60 different mammalian species have been infected, and around 13 or 14 marine mammals have been infected. So this virus has proven us wrong many times.”

While the virus hasn’t spread to cows, humans or goats in Canada, Sharif believes it would be imprudent to assume it’s incapable of doing so.

Despite Canada’s low bird flu risk, the spread intensifying south of the border has prompted the Canadian Food Inspection Agency (CFIA) to ramp up surveillance efforts. This includes testing of milk in grocery stores and mandatory negative tests for lactating dairy cattle imported from the U.S.