Avian influenza discovered in wild bobcats in New York Cornell university researchers tracking live bobcats in New York found widespread exposure to avian flu, also known as bird flu17 April 2025 17 April 2025 4 minute read 4 minute read By: By: Cornell University North AmericaAvian influenza – which has devastated poultry flocks, wildlife populations and increasingly poses a public health risk – has now been confirmed in wild bobcats in New York state. The research further documents increasing avian influenza cases in mammals and underscores the importance of proactive wildlife disease monitoring. After we tested for avian influenza and detected the virus, we then used advanced staining techniques to visualize avian influenza antigen in the brain,” Bloodgood said. Without this work, we might never have known that a bobcat died from avian influenza in the wild. This study is a step toward understanding how diseases like avian influenza affect wildlife health in real-time.”