Summary

Description

This report covers the work performed by Montana Fish, Wildlife and Parks FWP during the 2008 surveillance period. The objectives of the project were to employ multiple sampling strategies to maximize the chance of detecting HPH5N1, including sampling live and hunterharvested waterfowl throughout fall migration and collecting samples from wild bird mortalitymorbidity events. To achieve the 2008 objectives, personnel from FWP collected 860 swab samples from live and hunterharvested birds and 42 mortalitymorbidity samples. Six weekly prospective mortality transects n128 were also conducted on lakes and wetlands throughout the state to systematically record the presence of target bird populations and mortality events. Avian influenza virus in low pathogenic form was detected in Montana samples as expected, while HPH5N1 was not found during the three years of surveillance in Montana or elsewhere in North America.