It was a month ago that officials with the Fish and Wildlife Service in Burbank started investigating reports of hundreds of mostly water fowl being found dead in Walla Walla, Benton, and Franklin Counties. Dan Hass with Fish and Wildlife says the avian cholera outbreak appears to be tapering off.

"We picked up three birds the day before yesterday, and none yesterday, and of course three can just be natural mortality," Haas said.

It was a very different count one month ago, when hundreds of primarily ducks and geese were found dead. Testing revealed that the animals had died from avian cholera, a fast-spreading virus that can be fatal within as little as 6 hours of coming in contact with it through food or feces.

Haas says he's not quite ready to declare the outbreak over, but is encouraged by the dwindling number of cases. Fish and Wildlife officials in western Idaho reported some 600 birds have died there recently from the same virus.

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