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Health officials in Washington state say they have identified the nation’s first human case of bird flu since February, pending confirmatory testing.
A Grays Harbor County, Washington, resident preliminarily tested positive for the infection, the Washington State Department of Health said Thursday. Health officials say they’re still investigating the source of the infection, including contact with wild or domestic birds.
The patient is an older adult with underlying health conditions, state health officials said. They developed a high fever, confusion, and respiratory distress and were hospitalized in early November. The person’s treatment is ongoing.
In 2024 and early 2025, infections were reported in 70 people in the U.S. — most of them workers on dairy and poultry farms. One person died, but most of the infected people had mild illnesses.
While the U.S. hadn’t seen a human infection in months, bird flu cases have been happening recently in poultry flocks and livestock.
In the past month, nearly 70 U.S. poultry flocks — either commercial or backyard — were found to have bird flu infections, with more than 1.7 million birds affected, according to the U.S. Agriculture Department. The last confirmed livestock detection was about a month ago in Idaho dairy cows, according to USDA.
The CDC characterizes the risk to the general public as low, although it is higher for people who work with cattle and poultry or who are in contact with wild birds.
Bobcat trapping is legal in Indiana for the first time since 1969.
For many years, bobcats were on Indiana’s endangered list. But by 2005 their population had recovered to the point where they were taken off the list.
Some say, however, that it is premature to open season on bobcats once more. They argue more data is needed to prove the bobcat population is robust enough to survive trapping.
Nick Erny spends an hour or two each day with his 12-year-old son, walking through the Dubois County woods and checking on a dozen or so bobcat traps they set out earlier this month.
This year marks the first time in more than 50 years that trappers like Erny have been able to target bobcats in Indiana. But not everyone is welcoming the news that bobcat trapping in Indiana is back; animal rights advocates say it is premature and the data is not robust enough to support killing Indiana’s only native cat.
Bobcats were hunted and trapped to near extinction in Indiana before they were listed as an endangered species in 1969. For decades the cats precariously held their ground in the state before the Indiana Department of Natural Resources deemed the population healthy enough in 2005 to be removed from the endangered list.
Over the course of last year and into early 2025, the Indiana Department of Natural Resource’s Natural Resources Council held a series of public meetings and decided to allow trapping in 40 southern counties stretching from Vermillion in the west to Franklin in the east. The rulemaking committee set a statewide quota at 250 bobcats for the season and allowed each trapper to take a single cat.
Other states, like Illinois, Kentucky and Michigan, have long allowed bobcat trapping, so Erny has been able to trap there in the past. Trapping in his home state, however, has been a “different kind of cat and mouse game,” he said.
Bobcats are fun to trap and make good table fare, Erny said, adding he will use the pelt he gets to craft ear muffs, headbands and drink coozies.
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Erny uses the same restraint-style and nonlethal traps he sets for coyotes but adds a little extra flair. Because bobcats are visual hunters, the traps need to be high-appeal, he said. He hangs CDs and flashy objects above the traps and will sometimes add feathers and other fluttering objects.
The season this year is all about humanely managing Indiana’s growing bobcat population, Erny said, since the species’ only real predator other than man is nature.
“Just like barn cats or house cats, when you’ve got a whole bunch of cats living in your barn, eventually when females breed, the toms come in and kill those kittens,” Erny said. “Mother Nature is less forgiving than humans.”
Indiana opened bobcat trapping season Nov. 8, and just under 1,000 trappers have purchased a $15 bobcat license from the state.
During the debates over the bill, State Senator Greg Taylor, D-Indianapolis, proposed two amendments that would have required the state to study bobcat populations and make sure they were sustainable before approving a trapping season. Lawmakers voted down the amendments.
Proponents like Erny argue that the bobcat population can survive a trapping season and think that the state’s rules that include a limit are a good start. If anything, Erny said, that threshold is too low.
“At least in the southern part of the state, the cat population will handle a harder harvest,” He said.
The season runs through Jan. 31, 2026, or until the statewide quota is met.
DNR using season to gather info
Because this is the first bobcat trapping season since the species was removed from the endangered species, DNR will carefully study the trapping data, said Geriann Albers, furbearer and gamebird program leader with the agency. That information, along with data from other seasons, will help DNR tweak or adjust future seasons.
“We’ve been [trapping] river otters for 10 years now, and that is the exact same process,” Albers said. “We have experience doing this and every year we learn something new.”
DNR will collect data detailing how many traps are set out and for how many nights, Albers said. This data will give the department an indication of how hard trappers have to work to trap animals, she said. One trapper setting out one trap for one night equals one trap-night. If one trapper sets out three traps for one night, that equals three trap-nights.
If the statewide quota can be met with only 1,000 trap-nights, that will suggest that the bobcat population is robust, she explained. But if it takes 25,000 trap-nights, that could lead the DNR to lower the threshold on the number of bobcats that can be trapped and killed during the season.
As of Friday, Nov. 7, one day before the season began, the DNR had sold 945 bobcat licenses. Four days after the season opened, on Wednesday, Nov. 12, trappers had already reported 35 tagged cats, more than 10% of the quota.
Before the season began, groups opposing the trapping rules argued the state did not have the data to prove bobcat populations could sustain losing numbers. Albers, however, said DNR used a population model to determine the quota to allow bobcats to thrive.
“We care about bobcats and we want them to keep doing well,” Albers said. “We don’t think this harvest season will negatively impact bobcats at all,”
Opposition groups remain vocal
Animal rights activists, however, disagree. The Humane World for Animals, formerly the Humane Society of the United States, issued a news release Nov. 4 saying that in the absence of reliable population data, it is possible that restoring trapping could devastate Indiana’s bobcat population. The group conducted a poll of Indiana voters in 2024 that showed the majority oppose the trapping season.
Samantha Chapman, Indiana state director of Humane World for Animals, said in a news release that the trapping season will only appease a small group of recreational trappers who make up less than %0.1 of the state’s population.
The group fought to have the mandated trapping rules set to a zero-quota limit, meaning that while a season existed, no bobcats could legally be trapped. This would allow the state to theoretically abidey by the new law at the same time as it would protect the population by not allowing anyone to kill cats.
“Indiana’s first bobcat-trapping season is a tragedy for our state’s shy little wild cats—and a brutal reminder that the majority of Hoosiers, who highly value humane and ethical treatment of animals, were silenced by the Natural Resources Commission,” Chapman said. “The DNR’s decision is a betrayal of wildlife conservation and the public’s trust.”
But Erny said the best way to get accurate information about the health of the population is to allow people to resume trapping bobcats and see what transpires.
“I’m thinking the DNR is going to get a plethora of knowledge,” Erny said. “They know there are good concentrations [of bobcats] in southern Indiana, and I think they will be floored at the way the numbers come in.”
And proving his point, Erny caught the first bobcat — an average-sized male— in Dubois County within two days of setting out his traps.
“It was exciting to actually catch one in Indiana,” Erny said.
This means the season is over for Erny but he will still check traps. His wife and son have yet to trap a bobcat, so the Erny family will head to the woods every day to check those traps, hoping to find a bobcat snared inside.
Hunters across Virginia are advised to adhere to firearm safety rules, prepare thoroughly, and follow specific county regulations to ensure a safe and successful hunting season.
Virginia deer season opening: Safety tips from expertsPlay Video
Virginia deer season opening: Safety tips from experts
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ROANOKE, Va. – As Virginia’s general firearms deer season opens Saturday, experts are emphasizing safety measures and thorough preparation for the estimated 250,000 acres of public hunting land available.
“Whether you’re out hunting this season, getting ready to go hunt, practicing, training, or you’re starting to shoot for sport, there’s some basic firearm safety rules that really should be followed all the time,” says Mitchell Tyler, co-owner of Safeside in Roanoke.
Tyler emphasizes the four fundamental rules of firearm safety established by the National Shooting Sports Foundation (NSSF). The first rule: Always treat every firearm as if it’s loaded. “The level of respect increases, so even though you’re sure that it’s unloaded, we want to treat it as if it’s loaded because all the other things are going to help protect from an accident,” Tyler explains.
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Rule two of the NSSF guidelines focuses on trigger discipline. “We train people about proper indexing, which is instead of having your finger around the trigger, to have your finger extended along the side of the gun before you move it onto the trigger,” says Tyler.
The third NSSF rule requires never pointing a gun at anything you don’t intend to destroy. The fourth rule emphasizes knowing your target and what’s beyond it. “We need to make sure that what’s behind our target or behind the animal is also going to be safe and so we’re making sure that we don’t see anything that could be hurt,” Tyler says.
The Virginia Department of Wildlife Resources (DWR) stresses the importance of preseason preparation, including inspecting all gear, tree stands, and safety harnesses. Hunters must communicate their plans with others, indicating hunting location and expected return time.
With muzzleloader season underway, hunters face additional challenges. Unlike factory-made ammunition, muzzleloaders introduce more variables. “With factory-loaded ammunition, you’re going to have consistent rounds from shot to shot usually,” Tyler explains. “With muzzle loaders, there’s a couple factors… rifle ammunition is made in a factory in great conditions. Muzzle loading, you’re reloading in the field.”
Visibility remains crucial for hunter safety. “We want to be able to make sure that other hunters can identify us so when they hear movement in the woods or they see movement, that they have a really top-of-mind, presence of mind that this is another hunter or someone out there,” Tyler emphasizes. The DWR requires hunters to wear blaze orange for safety.
Hunters in Patrick, Roanoke, Shenandoah, Smyth, Tazewell and Wythe counties must have deer harvested on Nov. 15 tested for chronic wasting disease (CWD). Staffed check stations will operate from 8 a.m. to 8 p.m., with refrigerated drop-off locations available.
For those hunting with hounds, additional preparations are necessary. Dogs must wear substantial collars with owner contact information, and hunters should plan to keep dogs on property where they have permission to hunt.
The DWR encourages hunters who fill their freezers to consider donating additional deer to Hunters for the Hungry through participating processors. In areas with high deer populations, doe harvest helps maintain herd health and reduce property damage.
Safeside offers firearm safety classes throughout the month. Tyler encourages hunters to have their firearms professionally inspected before the season begins, noting that many accidents happen before or after actual hunting activity.
“A lot of accidents happen with someone not out necessarily hunting actively, but the bookends of that, the before and after, where they had a firearm that was loaded,” Tyler warns. “If your firearm is unloaded, it will not go off.”
Exposing the Big Game 