{"id":119603,"date":"2026-02-21T02:59:09","date_gmt":"2026-02-21T02:59:09","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/119603\/"},"modified":"2026-02-21T02:59:09","modified_gmt":"2026-02-21T02:59:09","slug":"bird-flu-concerns-prompt-closures-remapping-routines-in-northampton-borough-northampton-county","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/119603\/","title":{"rendered":"Bird flu concerns prompt closures, remapping routines in Northampton Borough | Northampton County"},"content":{"rendered":"

NORTHAMPTON, Pa. – A bio-secure warning sign, the current-day greeting card at Upper Mount Bethel’s Liberty Acres Farm.<\/p>\n

“It’s secure, so we can’t really take people around the farm anymore,” said Brian Spagnola.<\/p>\n

Poultry is the prime money maker for Brian Spagnola’s business. By mid-summer, more than a thousand birds can cover his fields.<\/p>\n

“Our feed company. They disinfect their tires before they come up the driveway,” he explained of the new protocols.<\/p>\n

Small steps to avoid harsh scenes. Last year, Department of Agriculture workers in hazmat suits descended on a Lehigh County chicken facility after bird flu was discovered inside.<\/p>\n

Already in 2026 across the state, the U.S. Department of Agriculture says more than 7 million commercial birds have died from the virus.<\/p>\n

“We wanted to make sure that people with walking their dogs. You know, dogs chase after birds. It’s a common cycle,” said Brian Welsko,\u00a0Northampton Borough’s Manager.<\/p>\n

A reason that Welsko closed Canal Street Park earlier this week after 150 dead Canada geese were found nearby.<\/p>\n

<\/p>\n

Reports of dead geese lead to park closure in Northampton Co.<\/a><\/p>\n

The PA Game Commission says that even though tests have yet to be done, it’s all but certain the birds are a victim of bird flu.<\/p>\n

This, as it’s seeing a resurgence in wild bird flu cases in Lehigh, Bucks and Northampton counties.<\/p>\n

Head into the Northampton Borough Hall, and you can’t miss the signs of these avian times. Bird flu pamphlets dot the inside.<\/p>\n

“Crows dying, that’s what we’ve heard. Nothing from game commission,” Welsko said.<\/p>\n

For those like Spangola, an invisible virus re-shapes routines, and possibly futures.<\/p>\n

“If bird flu shows up here, they’re going to come and decimate our flock, and then I’d probably be out of business.,” he said.<\/p>\n

The borough says the earliest the park is expected to reopen is March 2. As for commercial flocks, Pennsylvania is the only state that has a dedicated bird flue recovery fund for impacted farmers.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"NORTHAMPTON, Pa. – A bio-secure warning sign, the current-day greeting card at Upper Mount Bethel’s Liberty Acres Farm.…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":119604,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[14],"tags":[214,153,155,154,434],"class_list":{"0":"post-119603","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-bethlehem","8":"tag-_homepage_top_stories","9":"tag-bethlehem","10":"tag-bethlehem-headlines","11":"tag-bethlehem-news","12":"tag-northampton-county"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/119603","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=119603"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/119603\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/119604"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=119603"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=119603"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=119603"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}