In November 2024, Susan Wilkinson’s nightmare began. Her duck Hector was one of the first casualties of the avian flu — the first case of the disease ever detected in the islands.
Wilkinson operates Susie’s Duck Sanctuary, a nonprofit dedicated to the rescue and rehabilitation of birds.
After the detection, the entire flock in her backyard operation in Wahiawā had to be destroyed. Wilkinson said she has since moved locations.
The Conversation caught up with Wilkinson, who reflected on what she called a horrific year.
“It's been a year of survival and healing and grieving, but to go with that has been an insane amount of support from friends, family and complete strangers who just appreciate the kindness I was trying to share with animals and just them supporting,” Wilkinson said. “So with all the darkness, there's definitely been a lot of light as well. So I can't not appreciate that.”
With avian flu season typically peaking in the fall, Wilkinson said she hopes people can implement quarantine measures.
“Now that we know it officially can reach Hawaiʻi, it's just a matter of being proactive. We should have been all along, but it just seemed out of reach a little, but now it's definitely a thing. And I think instead of being fearful, the message I want people to take in is that you just have a plan. Have a quarantine plan. Have it set up.”
Whether her flock was sick or not, the state had determined to euthanize all 100 of her rescues in less than two weeks.
"They weren't just a collection of things that I was gathering," she said. "These were all rescues that had been dumped or injured or abandoned. And so we were a 501(c)(3) nonprofit rescue sanctuary. So we were in the process of healing and rehoming and trying to rehab them.
"It wiped them out so fast, and then it stopped. And then it was done, but at that point, we still didn't know what it was. And then the diagnosis came through, and then the state came through."
The biggest quarantine measure Wilkinson recommends is having a lockdown facility available for the flock.
"That means bringing them indoors, like if you have a carport, find a way to shut it down so that you can bring them in there, or building up a greenhouse or some kind of a structure on your property that you can bring them all into so that there's no exposure at all for multiple weeks, just to keep them safe, but having that plan and being able to do it now versus when it's too late again," she told HPR.
"It's something you can be proactive about doing instead of reacting at the last minute, or it's too late."
On Friday, Maui County reported its first case of a migratory duck with the virus, and in October, a duck in Mānoa was the first positive case this fall. For more information about avian flu, click here.
This story aired on The Conversation on Nov. 17, 2025. The Conversation airs weekdays at 11 a.m.
