Liz Shepard

Times Herald

April Malick has been involved with the Sanilac County 4-H Fair for about a decade.

This week has been by far the worst.

“I had to look at 100 kids and tell them their birds had to be put down...you have no idea how it was,” said the fair’s superintendent of poultry.

The decision to euthanize all of the chickens brought to be shown by youths came after one was confirmed to have infectious laryngotracheitis, a respiratory disease triggered by stress and highly contagious between chickens.

Malick said the bird arrived to the fairgrounds near Sandusky early Sunday healthy, but by later that day it was showing symptoms.

She called the Michigan Department of Agriculture and Rural Development, which sent a vet who tested and confirmed the disease.

Malick said about 130 poultry entries came to the fair. The about 25 ducks, pigeon, geese and turkeys will not be euthanized.

“This is probably the hardest thing I’ve ever dealt with,” she said.

There will be no poultry showing this week.

8 people ill after exposure to sick pigs, including at Ingham fair

Malick said the decision to euthanize the bird was not taken lightly. The state had issued the barn under a 14 day quarantine to see if any other chickens showed symptoms.

“The kids at the 4H group, and being poultry enthusiasts, we all decided it needed to end here, it needed to stay here,” she said.

Kids have been taking turns tending to the birds, wearing gloves and practicing other steps of “bio-security,” Malick said.

Because carriers of the disease don’t always show symptoms, Malick said there was concern it would be taken to home flocks and spread throughout the state.

“They’ve been exposed to the virus, so they’re always going to be a carrier,” she said of the other birds.

Malick said the youth all backed the decision to stop the spread of the disease through euthanizing the chickens.

“I was proud of the kids, it was a tough decision,” she said.

The birds are expected to be euthanized today.

Colleen Wallace, Sanilac County 4H program coordinator, said proper protocall was followed to minimize the impact.

“As bad and as tragic as it is, if we took these birds home, and exposed the rest of our flocks, the entire flock would be latent carriers,” she said.

Wallace said education about species-to-species diseases and species-to-human disease transmission has been part of education offerings for the youth. She said now the youth want to learn even more to help prevent such incidents.

“I’m absolutely astonished at the maturity,” Wallace said.

Malick said poultry numbers were low this year, as in 2015 birds weren’t allowed to be exhibit anywhere in the state to prevent the spread of avian flu.

Contact Liz Shepard at (810) 989-6273 or lshepard@gannett.com. Follow her on Twitter @lvshepard.