KJZZ | By Jill Ryan

Published June 4, 2025 at 1:52 PM MST

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• https://www.kjzz.org/business/2025-06-04/arizona-restaurants-bracing-for-impacts-of-latest-bird-flu-outbreak

Local businesses are bracing for potential shortages after bird flu hit the largest egg producer in the Southwestern U.S.

Hickman’s Family Farms reported losing 95% of its chickens in Arizona to bird flu. Birds at an unnamed third poultry facility in Maricopa County has also tested positive for the illness.

Steve Chucri with the Arizona Restaurant Association says, so far, the latest wave of bird flu hasn’t affected what’s on menus, but that could change.

“Be patient with restaurants if it does in fact start to impact menus, I’m not talking about pricing, I’m talking about menu items, just understand that we’re doing the best we can with the resources that we have. We’re a supply chain industry,” Chucri said.

Chucri also says the restaurant industry faced a similar bird flu outbreak a few years ago, though the outcome this time around has been far more devastating.

Glen Hickman says he expects it will take two years for his business to recover.

Posted by Angela Montana on June 4, 2025

Montana Wild Wings Recovery Center in Kalispell has treated six bald eagles and one golden eagle with elevated lead levels in 2025.

Of those, one bald eagle and the golden eagle succumbed to lead poisoning, one bald eagle remains in treatment, and four bald eagles have been successfully rehabilitated and released.

Lead poisoning is a common cause of death for eagles in northwest Montana, following vehicle collisions. Of the 45 eagles tested at the center from 2017 to 2025, 55 percent showed lead levels above normal environmental levels. This year, two eagles had lead levels so high they were unreadable. Even low-level lead exposure can impair coordination for eagles, increasing the risk of fatal accidents, such as vehicle strikes.

Eagles are exposed to lead primarily by scavenging carcasses and gut piles containing fragments from lead-based ammunition. Spikes in lead poisoning occur during and after the fall rifle hunting season, when lead-shot deer and elk remains are prevalent, and to a lesser extent in spring, when Columbian ground squirrels are targeted with lead bullets. Hunters can help reduce eagle deaths by switching to nonlead ammunition, such as copper.

Please report any dead, injured, or sick eagles to the FWP Region 1 office at 406-752-5501.