ITHACA, N.Y. (WSYR-TV) — There is an update from the New York State Department of Environmental Conservation (DEC) after a Highly Pathogenic Avian Influenza (HPAI) outbreak hit the Reynolds Game Farm in Tompkins County.

Of the 6,600 pheasants on Reynolds Game Farm, 500 of them had died from HPAI, leaving the remaining 6,100 pheasants to be euthanized.

Lori Severino, Public Information Officer for the DEC, says depopulation was necessary to prevent the spread of the disease in accordance with standard HPAI response protocols.

The DEC began looking into the outbreak back on March 20, following suspicious deaths of the farm’s pheasants. Early tests were then traced back to an outbreak of the H5N1 virus.

The New York State Department of Agriculture and Markets (AGM) and the United States Department of Agriculture (USDA) are working jointly on additional surveillance and testing in areas around the affected flock.

The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention states that the recent HPAI detections in birds do not present an immediate public health concern.

HPAI cases in humans are rare, and symptoms are typically mild. The risk of a person becoming infected is low.