SAN DIEGO: About one-third of the small parrots that reside in the San Diego Zoo Safari Park’s aviary have been vaccinated to protect against salmonella, which killed some of the flock, zoo officials said today.
“We recently lost some birds to salmonella,” said Bruce Rideout, director of the Wildlife Disease Laboratories for San Diego Zoo Global. “Although unfortunate, we were able to use this loss to take biological samples necessary for isolating the bacteria. These samples became the basis for the vaccine.”
Twenty out of the flock of 60 birds received both an oral and injectable vaccine at the park’s hospital over the past couple of days. The rest will be vaccinated soon, zoo officials said.
Safari Park veterinarians collaborated with scientists at the University of Georgia’s College of Veterinary Medicine Infectious Disease Lab to develop the vaccine. Bacteria isolated from infected birds at the Safari Park were inactivated and provided the basis for vaccine development.
The aviary has been closed and the birds given veterinary exams, but they will be back on public display Sunday, park officials said.
