ORLANDO, Fla.
\n \u2013 While no swans at Lake Eola have died from bird flu in the past week, Orlando officials say a dead bird infected with avian influenza has been found at nearby Lake Davis Park. Local volunteers argue this outbreak could indicate broader issues with swan care at the city\u2019s iconic lake.<\/p>\n
Andrew Marshall, a volunteer caretaker for Lake Eola\u2019s swans, reports that, beyond the 30 confirmed avian flu deaths since December, an additional 30 swans died and 13 went missing from Lake Eola in 2025. Marshall has gathered over 2,000 signatures on a petition urging the city to improve expert care for the birds, habitat cleanliness, and water quality.<\/p>\n
\u201cA lake constantly filled with trash, mold-covered feeders that lead to disease. Inadequate security and infrastructure resulting in birds being kicked, stolen or killed,\u201d Marshall said during a protest at City Hall.<\/p>\n
[WATCH: Avian flu confirmed in swan deaths at Lake Eola Park]<\/p>\n
Despite multiple attempts to engage with city leadership, Marshall says volunteers\u2019 offers to help have gone unanswered. <\/p>\n
\u201cUnfortunately, there has been zero response from any city official, despite numerous repeated attempts to reach out, collaborate, share information, and work together on solutions,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n
City officials maintain they are working with Florida Fish and Wildlife and emphasize that no new bird flu cases have been detected at Lake Eola in almost a week. <\/p>\n
[WATCH: Nearly 30% of Lake Eola swans dead from bird flu]<\/p>\n
In a statement, the city said its staff are \u201csaddened by the tragic loss of swans\u201d and are \u201cactively reevaluating the Lake Eola Swan Program to ensure the highest standards of care for the city\u2019s beloved swans and identify opportunities to strengthen best practices.\u201d<\/p>\n
While the city notes that bird flu is a natural wildlife disease unrelated to water quality or pollution, Marshall argues that poor conditions make the swans more susceptible to illness. <\/p>\n
\u201cBecause of the care that is lacking, because of the trash that\u2019s always in the lake, these birds probably have some other symptomatic issues that they\u2019re struggling with, and certainly the avian influenza can be the thing that puts them over the top,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n
Marshall and other volunteers addressed the City Council directly, using the current bird flu outbreak to advocate for improved swan care. <\/p>\n
\u201cThese birds deserve better,\u201d Marshall said. \u201cLook around the city. The swan is displayed everywhere. They\u2019re an economic driver for the city. And the fact that there\u2019s not appropriate care for them is inexcusable.\u201d<\/p>\n
Breaking News Alerts<\/p>\n
Get breaking news alerts delivered to your inbox.<\/p>\n
Copyright 2026 by WKMG ClickOrlando – All rights reserved.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"ORLANDO, Fla. \u2013 While no swans at Lake Eola have died from bird flu in the past week,…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":132850,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[11],"tags":[1684,52230,1610,8411,1335,139,141,140,52016],"class_list":["post-132849","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-orlando","tag-animals","tag-bird-flu","tag-lake-eola","tag-lake-eola-park","tag-orange-county","tag-orlando","tag-orlando-headlines","tag-orlando-news","tag-swans"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/132849","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=132849"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/132849\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/132850"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=132849"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=132849"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=132849"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}