PENDLETON — The Oregon Department of Fish and Wildlife doesn’t want any Washington birds crossing the state line for veterinary medical attention.

Lynn Tompkins, executive director of Blue Mountain Wildlife in Pendleton, has urged the state agency to reverse its decision, but to no avail.

Avian bird flu appears to be the rationale to keep away winged creatures from Oregon.

“For 20-plus years I was able to take care of Washington migratory birds here at our Pendleton facility,” Tompkins said, “and the last year and a half, since the outbreak of avian influenza, ODFW said we can’t bring birds across the state line,”

Tompkins said she has been reaching out to various people within ODFW to get them to revisit their decision.

“We are the only facility that serves wildlife in either Eastern Washington or Eastern Oregon,” Tompkins said, “and right now our facility near Benton, Washington, is not going to be active after the first of the year, because a member there will be moving to Arizona.”

If quarantine of birds is a concern, Tompkins said she already has that issue covered.

“We have created a standalone intake center where we can admit, examine and quarantine birds that we think are suitable for rehab and are high-risk species,” she said. “We test them for avian influenza. I will send a sample swab to the Oregon state vet or the (Oregon State University) Veterinary Diagnostic Lab in Corvallis. “That’s where we’re at right now and I’m not sure where to go from here.”

Tompkins said three sheds measuring 8 feet by 10 feet serve as the new intake center and includes an anesthetic machine and other equipment to examine birds. She said she sometimes receives wild birds that are so injured by automotive strikes there is no choice other than euthanizing the bird.

“If we think it’s something that we can rehab, and it’s a high-risk species, such as bald eagles, Rachel hawks and great horned owls,” she said, “those birds are put in quarantine in the third building and then we send a test to the OSU Diagnostic Lab.”

Blue Mountain Wildlife recently received a barn owl hit by a car. She said that’s a low-risk species for avian influenza but was so severely injured it was euthanized.

Tompkins said she recently bought a fourth shed so she would have the ability to quarantine two groups of birds at the same time.

”You get one bird in and it seems reasonable to rehab it, and you put it in quarantine which takes us anywhere from three days to a week,” she said. “I wanted to be able to take in a second bird and also be able to quarantine, but not mess up my quarantine schedule for the first bird.”

“I am trying really hard to get to ODFW to revisit their decision,” Tompkins said. “We’ve gone to great lengths to safely admit birds. In the 20 years when I used to bring birds here all the time, we never had an issue.”

Tompkins’ experience is as a veterinary technician, she said.

“I’m the only licensed member that there has ever been in Eastern Oregon, and we serve the entire half of the state,” she said.

The closest rehabilitation facility in Washington is in Pullman, she said, but that’s too far to ask our volunteers to help transport animals.