Blackfeet Nation Fish and Wildlife officials confirmed the reservation’s first case of avian influenza in a migrating Canada goose on Friday after receiving positive test results back from a state lab.
Two fishermen first spotted the infected bird while recreating near Mission Lake on Oct. 15. Noticing the goose’s strange behavior, they left the area and reported it to Fish and Wildlife officials the following day. Deputy Director Brandon Kittson and the department’s disease coordinator went out that same day, finding the bird on the lakeshore exhibiting the same behaviors the fishermen had observed – swimming alone in a tight, circular pattern and foaming at the mouth, Kittson said.
The two officials captured and euthanized the bird, sending it to the state lab to test it for H5N1, avian influenza.
Suspecting that the symptoms pointed to the bird flu, Kittson had Fish and Wildlife staff immediately begin monitoring water bodies across the Blackfeet Reservation for other dead birds or signs of the disease. Kittson noted that mid-October is peak fall migration season for bird populations like Canada geese, and since then the region has seen a steady decline of visiting migratory birds. No other suspicious wildlife activity has been reported since Oct. 15.
“We had staff out there monitoring in October,” Kittson said. “But before we blew the whistle we wanted to make sure it was actually confirmed.”
On Nov. 14, lab results came back confirming Kittson’s suspicion. Blackfeet Fish and Wildlife posted an announcement to their Facebook page, alerting the public to the discovery and asking residents to help monitor the variety of water bodies across the reservation.
“Please report any sick, dead, or unusually behaving birds or animals (stumbling, unable to fly, unusually tame, circling, seizures, etc.),” Fish and Wildlife officials stated. “Do not touch sick or dead wildlife, and keep children and pets away from them. If you hunt or handle birds, please use proper hygiene and dispose of carcasses safely.”
Since 2022, Montana has confirmed the discovery of the Highly Pathogenic Avian Influenza (HPAI) in 25 flocks across the state, the most recent in a backyard poultry flock in Flathead County in 2024.
Kittson and his staff have been preparing for such an occurrence on the Blackfeet Nation. In September they attended an educational meeting on the spread of the disease, where they learned about its ability to spread to mammals including dairy cows and, in some rare cases, humans.
“We knew this would eventually happen,” Kittson said. “That was one of the issues – once it starts jumping the species barriers, we knew that there was a high risk of it popping up here on the reservation.”
Fish and Wildlife officials are currently putting together an outbreak contingency plan, Kittson said.
To report suspicious wildlife activity on the Blackfeet Nation, contact Blackfeet Fish and Wildlife at 406-830-7118 or message the group on Facebook. For wild birds sick or dead from unknown causes found outside of the Blackfeet Reservation, please contact the Montana, Fish, Wildlife and Parks (FWP) regional office in Kalispell at (406) 752-5501 or call the FWP wildlife veterinarian (406) 577-7880.