TikTok star Emu Emmanuel has contracted an outbreak of bird flu on a farm

If you kind of think bird flu is just for birds, check out what happened at Knuckle Bump Farms in Florida. Farm owner Taylor Blake tweeted Saturday that an outbreak of bird flu had killed 99% of the domesticated birds on her farm. This includes the heartbreaking loss of ducks, geese, chickens and three emus: Emily, Eliza and Elliot. Avian flu has also struck the most famous bird of all at Knuckle Bump Farms: an emu named Emmanuel Todd Lopez. While that seemed to keep things swinging and praying for a moment, Blake’s updates suggest he may be on the road to recovery after a lot of hard work from her and Emmanuel. .

Emmanuel the emu rose to fame on TikTok earlier this year after he kept interrupting Blake with his screen hogging methods or maybe screen emu methods while she was trying to film the following video:

This Emu Sing ad helped Emmanuel go viral on social media. He’s reappeared multiple times in TikTok videos, such as the following, in which Blake was a bit pissed off about Emmanuel’s antics:

However, it is another viral incident, in this case a worse real virus incident, with people on social media now supporting Emmanuel in other ways. Wild Egyptian geese may have brought something really fowl, or rather nasty, to Knuckle Bump Farms: a nasty strain of bird flu. And as Blake described in her Twitter thread, this bird flu eventually killed 99% of the beaked people on her farm:

This is heartbreaking but not surprising given that highly pathogenic avian influenza (HPAI), specifically strain H5N1 type A avian influenza, has spread as widely and rapidly in the US as I have reported forbes so far. As of October 14, tests have found HPAI in 242 commercial flocks and 290 backyard flocks, affecting 47.45 million birds in 42 different states across the United States, according to the US Department of Agriculture (USDA). Note the words “highly pathogenic” which are not positive words. If someone calls you “highly pathogenic,” you should take offense. “Highly pathogenic” means with a high probability of causing a serious illness that can lead to death. This would be the opposite of the weakly pathogenic strains of avian influenza, which don’t really cause severe symptoms.

And unfortunately, the HPAI has been doing their highly pathogenic thing at Knuckle Bump Farms, resulting in much suffering and death. Blake described the horror of seeing innocent animals die:

Yes, once HPAI enters a flock, farm, or relatively closed roost with many birds, it can spread like wildfire. And once a bird is infected, there’s often not much you can do. Blake stated that she did her best to save many of her feathered friends but couldn’t stop the death toll:

The loss of over 50 birds in three days is tragic. This is where supportive care can help. But HPAI can kill with remarkable speed.

Last Wednesday, Blake thought the virus had sort of left the barn, but found Emmanuelle had contracted it too. This left him with 24-hour care, including nutrition and subcutaneous fluids:

The infection didn’t just affect Emmanuel’s respiratory system. According to Blake, this also led to neurological symptoms and loss of function in his right foot and leg:

Blake and her friend then decided to build an improvised noose for Emmanuel. They also started a physical therapy program for him.

Hopefully, Emmanuelle is now on the road to recovery and will return to his screen-hogging, TikTok-ing ways soon. Blake wrote: “This whole experience, albeit very traumatizing, has taught me so much. I will always use my platform to spread awareness. To hopefully use the knowledge I’ve gained to save someone else from this heartbreak,” as you can see here:

She went on to warn that “AI is rampant in the US right now, please be aware!” And in this case, AI didn’t stand for artificial intelligence, it stood for avian flu. As demonstrated by the ongoing avian influenza epidemic in 2022, better avian influenza surveillance and control measures are needed.

All of this is a reminder that bird flu isn’t something to watch out for unless you end up having to pay Ei-Stra to make some omelettes. From a selfish human perspective, it’s never a good idea to let avian flu viruses run rampant. Like coronaviruses, influenza viruses can mutate quite severely. That means the genetic sequences of flu viruses can change as often as Kardashians change clothes. While the vast majority of avian flu strains cannot infect humans and cause disease, you never know when a new strain with the ability to spread to humans may emerge. And you never know when a strain may have additional mutations that allow it to spread from person to person. The result could be a novel virus that could lead to an outbreak among humans. And as 2020 has shown, that’s not a great thing.

But we shouldn’t just focus on people. HPAI viruses can infect and kill many birds. This, in turn, can greatly affect the people who love and care for them. It’s important to remember how much the lives of birds can improve the lives of humans. After all, a bird in hand can definitely be worth a bird in hand.