The U.S. Animal and Plant Health Inspection Service, part of the U.S. Department of Agriculture, has posted that American hunters cannot bring home game birds harvested while hunting in any one of at least 63 hot zones in Canada.
This is due to restrictions by APHIS aimed at preventing the spread of a highly pathogenic strain of avian influenza, i.e., bird flu. Now, these zones include some in Alberta (20 zones), British Columbia (nine zones), Manitoba (one zone), Ontario (20), Quebec (five), and Saskatchewan (nine), meaning more than likely the most popular areas are impacted. To find out if their spot is on the list, sportsmen can go to inspection.canada.ca and search for “Highly pathogenic avian influenza zones” and enter the name of the hunting area in the search box.
Of course, millions of these Canadian birds will eventually end up in the United States on their own. They have had a habit of flying south in the Fall for a few years now.
