The Pennsylvania Game Commission announced their detection of avian flu at a Northumberland County game farm on Dec. 27. Game officials worry their main game facility may be impacted.
Officials confirmed Highly Pathogenic Avian Influenza (HPAI) at Martz’s Game Farm. They have over 100,000 affected pheasants, all of which will have to be euthanized to prevent spreading the disease.
The Commission’s main game pheasant housing facility is Mahantongo Game Farm, which is less than three miles away from Martz’s. If Mahantongo is affected, officials report that agricultural regulations require nearly all stock-providing breeding pheasants to be euthanized, crippling the program’s future.
Game officials report they will hold onto all of the hen pheasants, and around five percent of roosters that would have been released in late 2023-early 2024. If the virus is not detected at Mahantongo, they will transfer pheasants to Loyalsock Game Farm.
For information on which properties will receive pheasants over the next two weeks, go to the PA Game Commission’s 2023 Pheasant Allocation page.