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BRIGHAM CITY, Utah (AP) -- Utah biologists are taking fecal samples from birds to ensure that bird flu has not made it to the state.
There is no sign that the deadly Asian strain has hit U-S soil, but the possibility is keeping wildlife officials in Utah on the perch.
The Utah Division of Wildlife Resources says it has samples from more than one thousand birds and hopes to have 120 more when the duck-hunting season ends January Twentieth.
The state is taking samples from birds shot at Farmington Bay and the Migratory Bird Refuge. They include tundra swans, northern pintails, northern shovelers and green-winged teal.
There could be a chance that the birds nested on Alaska's northern coast and had contact with a migratory Asian bird that nested nearby in Russia.
Biologists say it's a long shot, but they would rather be safe than sorry.
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On the Net: Utah Division of Wildlife Resources, http://wildlife.utah.gov
PandemicFlu.gov, http://www.avianflu.gov
(Copyright 2006 by The Associated Press. All Rights Reserved.)
