The dangerous Avian Influenza A (H5N1) outbreak is worsening. The biggest threat right now is H5N1 in chickens and cows used for food, but animals sold in the pet industry are also vulnerable.
H5N1 is a deadly bird flu that has infected millions of wild birds and chickens. Despite its name, other animals can also get H5N1, and many have. Right now, it’s rapidly spreading among cows in the dairy industry in the US. The number of humans in the US infected with H5N1 is also steadily rising. A teenager in British Columbia is in critical condition after testing positive for H5N1, the first human case in Canada. The teen had no contact with farms or farmed animals before becoming sick.
Sick Birds and Cows Are Dying Every Day
At least 280 million birds have died of H5N1 since October 2021, including chickens and endangered bird species, as well as tens of thousands of mammals. More than 100 million birds have been killed in the US, alone. While some of these birds have died from the virus, millions of chickens in factory farms have been killed by methods that cause excruciating pain such as “ventilation shutdown,” where birds are killed by inducing heat stroke, in attempts to stop the spread of the virus. Cows in California who have contracted H5N1 have a reported mortality rate of up to 15%.
A frightening investigation by Vanity Fair detailed scenes of cows struggling to breathe, dying cats, and scores of dead pigeons and blackbirds at US farms. Equally frightening is that public health officials and veterinarians were pressured not to properly respond to the crisis to protect the dairy industry’s bottom line. The US Department of Agriculture ordered veterinarians to stay silent, and multiple veterinarians who tried to do the right thing were fired.
COVID-19 made it clear that ignoring or minimizing the risk of zoonotic pandemics has deadly consequences. Yet animal-exploiting industries continue to put us all at risk, and the US government lets them.
The Pet Industry Endangers Public Health
Pet stores sell dozens of species of wild animals, including mammals, amphibians, reptiles, birds, fishes, arachnids, and insects. The breeding and sale of these animals is a public health hazard. Animals sold in pet stores are intensively bred in large-scale commercial facilities (also called mills), creating the ideal setting for disease transmission and the development of more virulent pathogens. Investigations and USDA inspections routinely reveal sick animals in facilities that breed or wholesale animals for the pet industry.
Many zoonotic diseases have been reported in pet stores, including:
- Salmonella (reptiles)
- Psittacosis (parrots)
- Tularemia (rabbits)
- Rat-bite fever (rats)
- Leptospirosis (mice)
- COVID-19 (hamsters)
- Lymphocytic choriomeningitis (hamsters)
Infections originating in animals sold in US pet stores have killed children. For example, rat bite fever, an infection with a 13% mortality rate, is a growing concern. A 10-year-old boy died after contracting rat bite fever from a rat purchased at a California Petco in 2013. Other children have been hospitalized with rat bite fever after interacting with rats kept as companions.
The Pet Industry and H5N1
Animals being sold in the pet trade have been confirmed to have H5N1. In November 2024, the Hawaii Department of Health found H5N1 in multiple ducks and geese who were present at a “pet fair” in Central Oahu. Bird flu has also been found in indoor-only cats kept as companions.
While the US pet industry isn’t currently a major source of H5N1, an industry that intensively confines and ships tens of thousands of birds every year is a ticking time bomb. Tell PetSmart and Petco, the two biggest pet store chains in the US, to stop selling animals for the animals’ sake and ours.