Infectious disease and wildlife experts are scratching their heads at the recent discoveries of mass Canada goose deaths in southern Manitoba, with some communities reporting carcasses found frozen in waterways.

Some of the deaths have been linked to avian influenza, more commonly known as the bird flu, a contagious viral infection that affects hundreds of species.

While these particular infections are common in wild birds, such as geese and ducks, it is rare to see the level of mortality that has been documented since a subtype of the virus called H5N1 was reported in Canada in 2021.

“We saw these mass mortality events when it was first introduced, and then as it’s now been around for a few years, we haven’t been seeing as many fatalities, likely because there’s some amount of immunity

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