Bird flu arrives in Southwest after millions of birds die

By BOB CHRISTIE
Associated Press

PHOENIX (AP) — Arizona officials have confirmed the first cases in the Southwest of a bird flu that has led to the deaths of 37 million birds on commercial farms in the central and eastern U.S. Arizona Game and Fish officials announced this week that the disease was present in three wild cormorants that had been found dead in a park in the Phoenix suburb of Scottsdale. The agency says the disease has not yet been found in any domestic birds or in commercial operations. Hickman Family Farms has about 2 million egg-laying chickens in Arizona, California and Colorado and stopped tours and double-checked its biosecurity program to minimize the chance of an outbreak.