The deaths of about 200 emus in mid-June come on the heels of nine horse deaths within a multi-parish area during the past eight weeks all confirmed to be caused by Eastern Equine Encephalitis (EEE).

“Last month we had horses dying of this disease and now our ratite industry is being hit by it. It’s a shame we’re losing these animals, because this is such a preventable disease,” Bob Odom, Commissioner of Agriculture and Forestry of Louisiana’s Department of Agriculture, said. “Ostriches and emus can be given the same vaccination that horses get and it is just as effective. Horses and ratites that haven’t been vaccinated this year, need to have it done now.”

Dr. Maxwell Lea, state veterinarian for the Department of Agriculture and Forestry, said ratite farmers have known since the early 1990s that the same virus that causes sleeping sickness in horses is also lethal in ostriches and emus. When infected, the large, flightless birds are usually stricken with severe gastroenteritis and die within 24 hours.

According to Lea, the process is a little less complicated in emus than in horses. Whereas in horses it takes mosquitos to transmit the disease, in emus it can be transmitted from a sick bird to a healthy bird and soon wipe out the whole flock