AVIAN ALERT FEAR OF NEWCASTLE'S SPREAD MAKES BIRD OWNER PROTECTIVE.

Byline: Peggy Hager Staff Writer

PALMDALE - Like other exotic bird owners around Antelope Valley, Suzi Eslick is worried that a government inspector will show up on her doorstep and order that her parrots, cockatiels and lovebirds be killed.

``No trespassing'' signs and locked gates greet visitors to Eslick's home, where she makes people step in a tray of disinfectant, just in case, to kill the virus that causes exotic Newcastle disease - a deadly poultry disease that since fall has caused the destruction of more than 3 million birds in California.

``I have plastic booties so when I go to feed stores and whatnot, I put on the plastic booties and then take them off after I come out of the feed store before I go back in the car,'' Eslick said. ``We have a spray bottle that we spray the tires on the car ... every time we go in and out.''

Fighting the outbreak of a disease that has the potential to wipe out California chicken and turkey farms, state and federal agricultural officials since last fall have been testing birds and destroying infected flocks around the state - including in Littlerock, Lake Los Angeles and elsewhere in the Antelope Valley.

The virus can be spread by droppings, so if a rancher, deliveryman or veterinarian walks among one flock and then visits another, it can travel on his shoes, state officials say. Rodents or birds traveling between one flock and another also can spread the disease.

When a bird tests positive for the disease, the whole flock is killed - as well as neighboring birds if inspectors decide there is a way for the virus to migrate there.

Eslick is doing whatever she can to educate bird owners - particularly other breeders of parrots and similar exotic birds - about the threat. Exotic birds may not die from the disease, but they can be carriers and thus are targets for killing.

A meeting conducted by government experts from the exotic Newcastle disease task force will be held at 6:30 p.m. March 27 at Fire Station 129 Training Center, 42110 Sixth St. W., in Lancaster. The meeting is aimed at owners of exotic birds.

(Eslick noted that a tray of disinfectant will be there for participants to disinfect their shoes while coming and going.)

Exotic bird owners, she said, are not getting word about the outbreak, about the potential for infection from neighbors' birds, and about the measures being taken to control it.

Eslick has convinced a neighbor to cage her pigeons and chickens to reduce the possibility of infection. She is afraid that if the neighbor's flocks contract the disease, she will lose her own birds. Birds kept indoors can be spared from kill orders, but she also has an emu that lives outside.

With nearly 150 birds of her own, two of which are over 25 years old, Eslick has sharply curtailed her daily routine, limiting her contact with other bird lovers and even relatives.

Eslick's mother-in-law lives two miles away in an area that had an outbreak; Eslick hasn't seen her in two months.

``In full honesty, I don't even leave my house much,'' she said. ``I volunteer at a soup kitchen on Mondays and I do all of my running around on Mondays. Otherwise, my gates are locked and I stay home. My best friend lives out in Littlerock and we meet out in the middle of my street ... We can't even touch each other to say hi, you know, hug each other. It's terrible.''

The government pays owners for the birds that are destroyed, but owners of parrots and other exotics say they are in a different situation than a rancher raising chickens he knows will end up roasted or fried.

``If you talk to a lot of bird people, these are our children. Our kids have left home and these are what we deal with on a daily basis,'' said Eslick, who is retired and a former director of skier services at Ski Sunrise near Wrightwood. ``The big thing right now is letting people know that the task force doesn't want to kill our exotic birds, but they will.''

For more information about the March 27 meeting, call Eslick at [phone].

CAPTION(S):

3 photos

Photo:

(1 -- color) Suzi Eslick cares for one of her exotic birds at her home in Palmdale, where she works hard to keep Newcastle disease at bay.

(2 -- color) Suzi Eslick cuddles her pet emu, worried that because the big bird lives outside, it may be more susceptible to Newcastle disease.

(3) Suzi Eslick is surrounded by some of her friendly exotic birds, which she works hard to keep free of the Newcastle disease virus, which is deadly to birds.

Tom Mendoza/Staff Photographer