Cats with bird flu? The threat grows.

From the article. Here’s the bare link.

The global H5N1 avian flu outbreak, already devastating wild birds and poultry, keeps spreading to mammals, bringing it one step closer to a potential human outbreak.

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Finland, one of Europe’s biggest fur producers, is battling outbreaks among its captive minks, foxes and raccoon dogs — species that scientists warn have been identified as more likely to evolve a variant that can infect people, leading to a human outbreak.

Even the Finnish Food Authority, in its announcement of animals being culled, noted that minks are susceptible to both human and avian influenza. If one animal is infected by both, the viruses can mix genes and give rise to an avian flu that can infect humans. Fur farms in Finland, however, aren’t being closed. Instead the Finnish Wildlife Agency allowed fur breeders to kill wild birds near their farms in large numbers. The Agency told me the killings were authorized “to prevent contacts between infected birds and animals at fur farms,” but scientists point out this is the wrong approach and likely futile — and more fur farms in Finland have since announced further outbreaks.

Meanwhile, officials said a sizable outbreak of H5N1 among pet cats in Poland this summer killed at least 29 animals, though cat owners have compiled lists with as many as 89 sick animals. The outbreak has many unusual features that make it especially concerning, and yet there still hasn’t been an explanation of how exactly it happened or a vigorous investigation.

The affected cats lived in different areas of Poland, yet their viruses had almost identical genetic sequences. They obviously couldn’t have infected one another. Wild birds are unlikely to be the source, especially since some of the cats never went outside and the outbreak was not detected in Poland’s neighbors. It seems clear that the outbreak originated from a source in Poland.

Scientists and cat owners suspect cat food.

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H5N1 was also detected recently in two cat shelters in Seoul, South Korea. The authorities suspected cat food as the source and recalled two varieties from one brand. While the investigation there may yield some answers, the situation differs from Poland’s since the Korean cats lived in the same place.

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Poland is also the E.U.’s biggest operator of mink farms. One obvious worry is whether the minks are getting sick with H5N1 and mink meat is somehow contaminating the food chain and eventually reaching the cats.

Unfortunately, though, mink farms in Poland have become wrapped up in the country’s culture wars. A previous attempt to ban mink farms in 2020 almost brought down the government, despite widespread support for the ban. The far right especially mobilized against it. One member of the family that controls the vast majority of the mink farms in Poland said the proposed ban was supported by the same people “who promote L.G.B.T., same-sex marriage, abortion, euthanasia and so on.” The conservative government backed off.