U.S. customs agents dump 4,100 game birds

ST. PAUL, Minn., Oct. 2 (UPI) -- U.S. Department of Agriculture officials, fighting an avian flu outbreak, faced criticism Tuesday for confiscating 4,100 game birds from Canada.

The department was reacting to an outbreak of avian influenza H7N3 at a Saskatchewan poultry farm by preventing the birds from crossing the border between the U.S. and Canada. H7N3 isn't lethal to humans.

Hunters surrendered their game at border crossings after the Agriculture Department's Animal Plant Health Inspection Service banned "unprocessed avian products," Minnesota's Star Tribune reported.

Customs officials told hunters the confiscated birds were to be deposited in a landfill.

U.S. Customs officials, however, misinterpreted "unprocessed avian products" to include game birds, rather than exclusively poultry farm products, the newspaper said. The department lifted the ban Saturday.

Michael Chamberlain, associate professor of Wildlife Ecology at Louisiana State University, told the St. Paul (Minn.) Pioneer Press that, "Biologically, it makes no sense whatsoever. There were saying you can't transport a hunter-killed bird across the border, when millions of birds are migrating across the border already?"