Gov. Mark Dayton on Friday signed into law an emergency funding measure of nearly $900,000 to aid the state's response to the avian flu epidemic, which has now stricken 70 farms in 19 Minnesota counties.
The funding comes a week after Dayton declared a peacetime state of emergency. Avian flu, first detected in the state in March, has now affected nearly 4 million turkeys, about 8 percent of the state's annual turkey production. Sickened birds are euthanized.
Avian flu has also affected turkey growing operations in Iowa, and Minnesota officials on Thursday also announced that the first wild bird -- hawk in western Minnesota -- tested positive for the disease.
State officials stress that there's little risk of infection to humans. To illustrate the point that turkey is safe to eat, Dayton hosted a turkey lunch for interns earlier this week and legislators are a planning a turkey burger grill-out early next week at the Capitol.
Photo: U.S. Department of Agriculture workers disinfected a work crew at a Jennie-O turkey farm in Eden Valley, MN, Thursday. Eden Valley is in Meeker County. (Glen Stubbe/Star Tribune.)
