USDA to lose bird flu response employees, source says

By Leah Douglas

April 9 (Reuters) - Several U.S. Department of Agriculture employees who worked on the agency's bird flu response will leave at the end of April, straining the federal capacity to monitor the spread of the virus, according to a source familiar with the situation.

The USDA on April 1 gave employees seven days to decide whether to take financial incentives to quit, part of the effort by President Donald Trump and his billionaire ally Elon Musk to shrink the federal workforce.

Three out of 13 employees in the USDA's National Animal Health Laboratory Network took the offer and will leave on April 30, said the source familiar with the situation.

The USDA did not immediately respond to a request for comment.

NAHLN coordinates a network of 60 laboratories that test animal samples for disease, including bird flu.

The departing employees worked on maintaining consistency in bird flu testing, managing funding for the lab network, and providing administrative support, said the source, who requested anonymity for fear of retaliation.

Their departures will likely lead to some disruptions in the agency's bird flu monitoring in livestock, which is a pillar of the national response to the virus, said the source.

An ongoing bird flu outbreak has killed nearly 170 million chickens, turkeys and other birds since 2022 and infected nearly 1,000 dairy herds since early 2024. Last year, 70 people contracted the virus, most of them farmworkers exposed to sick poultry or cows, and one died.

The outbreak has also driven egg prices to record highs, though they have fallen somewhat in recent weeks.

Another four employees at the NAHLN are reinstated probationary workers who were fired in the agency's February mass layoffs but brought back soon after.

A federal board and two courts have blocked the USDA's effort to fire nearly 6,000 probationary workers, but they are still in a precarious position as the agency prepares to carry out mass layoffs.

The Supreme Court on Tuesday blocked one of the federal court orders requiring the reinstatement of probationary workers at six agencies, including the USDA.

Other federal staff working on bird flu were fired last week at the Department of Health and Human Services, leading the Food and Drug Administration to halt an effort to improve its testing of dairy products and pet food for the virus.