Jeff DeLong, RGJ4:21 p.m. PST February 2, 2015
Thousands of birds have died at Walker Lake from a disease experts say hasn't made an appearance in Nevada in decades.
An estimated 3,000 birds — most of them American coots and ducks — have died in an outbreak of avian cholera since early December in an event that still is unfolding. As many as 10 percent of Walker Lake's ducks may have died.
"It is still an ongoing outbreak," said Peregrine Wolff, veterinarian for the Nevada Department of Wildlife.
The event marks the first time for an outbreak of avian cholera in Nevada since the 1980s, Wolff said.
The highly infectious and quick-killing disease is unrelated to the avian flu that has spread among waterfowl in neighboring states and which experts said last Friday was found in a duck in Nevada's Lincoln County late in January. Avian cholera poses no threat to people or dogs.
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