PIERCE TOWNSHIP, Ohio — Two of the 72 black vulture carcasses cleaned up from a Clermont County elementary school's campus tested positive for bird flu, according to a release from Clermont County Public Health.
Ohio wildlife officials on Friday morning collected the dead vultures, which were splayed across the ballfields and grass St. Bernadette’s School on Locust Lake Road.
Pierce Township officials said the Ohio Department of Natural Resources (ODNR) initially refused to clean up or test the dead birds and only agreed to help hours after being contacted by the WCPO 9 I-Team.
“They were very adamant that they were not coming. There was a recommendation that you just take them, put them in a bag, double-bag them and throw them in the garbage,” said Pierce Township Trustee Allen Freeman. “It was very clear that there was no help coming … Thanks to Channel 9, you guys reached out to ODNR, and amazingly, they started to change their tune.”
Staff and teachers returned from Thanksgiving break on Dec. 1 and found dead vultures spread across a campus where more than 200 children are enrolled. The school contacted Pierce Township Fire Chief Craig Wright for help, who said he reached out to ODNR for guidance.
Watch: What ODNR officials said about this "unique circumstance" and how township officials are reacting
“(ODNR wasn't) overly concerned with the situation. They really had no intention to come out and do anything for the problem,” Wright said. “It did upset me. I was a little surprised. It’s a wildlife issue. There's no better agency than them to deal with a wildlife issue."
Over the next few days, Wright said he contacted local public health and emergency management agencies for help to come up with a contingency plan, while the dead birds remained at the school.
“It’s a big undertaking to clean up this many dead animals when you really don’t know or have the education or expertise to deal with that issue,” Wright said.
An ODNR spokesperson said the agency does not typically collect dead wildlife, but decided to help “for this unique circumstance.”
“The Ohio Department of Agriculture (ODA) has conducted testing of other dead wild birds in Clermont County, and we have been advised that those other birds are ‘presumed positive’ for HPAI (Highly Pathogenic Avian Influenza) … once a presumed positive case is identified in a county, all additional dead birds found in groups of six or more are also presumed to be HPAI and are treated as such. Therefore, the vultures in this case are presumed to be positive for HPAI, however, ODNR is working to collect additional samples to send for testing due to this unique circumstance,” according to a statement from ODNR.
In a Jan. 5 release, Clermont County Public Health confirmed that the final lab test results have confirmed the detection of H5N1.
Freeman and Wright both said that ODNR originally declined to test the birds. A spokesperson for Clermont County Public Health confirmed the claim.
“As is protocol in situations involving wildlife, the issue was originally reported to the Ohio Department of Natural Resources, which declined to test the birds,” according to a statement from public health spokesperson Krista Rose.
“However, given the potential risk to public health, we worked with our state partners to arrange testing. … On Friday, Dec. 5, two birds are being delivered to a state animal laboratory for testing,” Rose said.
Meanwhile, dozens of seemingly healthy black vultures flew around the school after the cleanup. They perched in trees and on the baseball field fence near the carcasses. Freeman said he worries about more bird deaths.
“You also have a lot of geese that are in this area as well. So, all of those are flock animals, and they can be spreading this to countless areas inside Clermont County … and we would have no idea,” Freeman said. “There are a number of people very close by that have cattle operations, and it has been known that bird flu can jump to cattle … it starts to open up an entirely new avenue that deals with our food and our food supply.”
But Wright urged residents not to panic. If it is bird flu, the current risk to the public is very low, Rose said.
“Transmission occurs through contact with respiratory droplets and bodily fluids from live birds. Transmission of bird flu in wildlife can increase in the spring and fall with bird migration. The current strain of H5N1 has been found in the wild and domestic bird populations since 2022 throughout the country, including Ohio,” Rose said.
ODNR crews cleaned up eight more dead vultures at the school on Sunday.
Pierce Township residents who find dead birds are urged to contact the township fire department or the Ohio Department of Natural Resources at 800-945-3543 or wildinfo@dnr.ohio.gov.
