BELLINGHAM, Wash. (AP) -- The Washington Department of Agriculture is stepping up testing at Whatcom County farms after a bird flu virus was found in turkeys just across the border in British Columbia.
Department spokesman Jason Kelly says the agency is asking 13 farms that regularly send in eggs for testing to send in an additional batch to be tested for H5 avian influenza.
Kelly says Washington has never had a confirmed case of avian flu, and the department doesn't expect the virus to cross the border. But he says officials want to be sure.
The virus was confirmed Saturday at a commercial farm in Abbotsford. Canadian officials say as many as 60,000 birds could be euthanized because of the disease.
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