[Nhcoll-l] bird salvage programs and HPAI in US

[Kuprewicz, Erin]

Hi Vicky,

I’m at the University of Connecticut and we have put a hiatus on our salvage solicitation from community members. We’re probably using an overabundance of caution, but I train students to create study skins using salvaged birds (and mammals), so we are being especially careful. We have a diagnostic lab on campus that will test our 2021-present collected birds before we release them to students to prep. Let me know if you want more details of have any questions, I’m happy to help!

Onwards to glory,
Erin

----
Erin K. Kuprewicz, Ph.D. (she/her/Dr.)

Curator | Collections Manager | Engagement Specialist
Connecticut State Museum of Natural History (CSMNH)

Vertebrate Collections Manager
Biodiversity Research Collections (BRC)
Department of Ecology & Evolutionary Biology

University of Connecticut
75 North Eagleville Road, Unit 3043
Storrs, CT 06269-3043
USA

http://www.erinkuprewicz.com<http://www.erinkuprewicz.com/>


From: Nhcoll-l <nhcoll-l-bounces at mailman.yale.edu> on behalf of Zhuang, Mingna <mzhuang at utep.edu>
Date: Tuesday, September 23, 2025 at 11:29 AM
To: NHCOLL-new <nhcoll-l at mailman.yale.edu>
Subject: [Nhcoll-l] bird salvage programs and HPAI in US
*External sender: This message came from outside UConn. It might be safe, but use caution before interacting with links, attachments, or requests.*

HI everyone,
I haven't seen this discussed here, but for those of you that have bird salvage programs with your local communities, do you have your programs open? Open with precautions?

We closed ours last year because we didn't want to encourage people to touch dead birds out of caution since HPAI transmission was ticking upwards. It does seem on the downward trend, but I wanted to get a sense of what other collections might be doing. It seems our local rehabilitators are using gloves to handle birds as the biggest preventative measure.

Thanks!

Vicky (Mingna) Zhuang PhD.
Biodiversity Collections Manager
UTEP Biodiversity Collections
B209 Biology Building
University of Texas at El Paso
500 W University Avenue
El Paso, TX 79968
phone: 915-747-5479
email: mzhuang at utep.edu<mailto:mzhuang at utep.edu>
website: https://www.utep.edu/biodiversity/
facebook<https://www.facebook.com/utepbc>, twitter<https://twitter.com/utepbc>, Instagram<https://www.instagram.com/utepbc/>: @utepbc
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