CDC Urged to Release Bird Flu Data Critical to Combatting Outbreak

On February 24, 2025, the Animal Legal Defense Fund joined nearly 30 public interest groups calling on the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) to release updated public information critical to tracking and combatting the escalating bird flu outbreak.

This urgent request for the latest information on the bird flu’s spread comes as the Trump administration “accidentally” fired 25% of the federal staffers in the office coordinating the response to the outbreak, yet another of the administration’s sweeping actions over the past few weeks to gut critical government programs.

Over the past month, the CDC has stopped publishing regular reports on its bird flu response activities and has reportedly omitted numerous studies on the outbreak from its Morbidity and Mortality Weekly Report. For weeks the administration also withheld information from the public indicating that house cats may be transmitting the virus to humans.

Avian influenza has surged across the United States since 2022, infecting at least 162 million poultry and wild aquatic birds since the outbreak began. In the past year alone, it has been detected for the first time in several of the country’s mammal species, including cows, goats, pigs and federally protected polar bears. Transmission to cows has caused a multistate outbreak at dairy-farming operations with nearly 1,000 herds affected so far.

People, especially those who live and work in farming communities, are increasingly at risk from the virus as it mutates and evolves. Seventy people are known to have been infected by bird flu during this U.S. outbreak, most of whom were associated with chicken or dairy-farming operations. One patient, who was exposed in connection with a backyard chicken flock, has died.

The virus’s explosive spread at egg-laying operations has caused a shock in the egg supply, driving record-high prices nationwide. In just the past month, more than 21.2 million egg-laying hens have been killed by the virus or culled in response to outbreaks.

The letter was delivered to the CDC by the Animal Legal Defense Fund, Center for Biological Diversity, Better Food Foundation, Buffalo River Watershed Alliance, Center for Food Safety, Chilis on Wheels, Coastal Carolina Riverwatch, Compassion in World Farming USA, Direct Action Everywhere, Earthjustice, Farm Aid, Farm Forward, FarmSTAND, Food Animal Concerns Trust, Food System Innovations, Friends of the Earth, Humane World for Animals, Illinois Stewardship Alliance, Institute for Agriculture and Trade Policy, Mercy for Animals, New Roots Institute, North Carolina Environmental Justice Network, Nutrient Density Alliance, Plant Based Treaty, Socially Responsible Agriculture Project, The Transfarmation Project, Winyah Rivers Alliance, and World Animal Protection.