News - USATODAY.com - Pet bird buyers asking sellers about avian flu

Pet bird lovers are still buying their feathered friends, but fears about avian flu have risen as it continues to spread, largely in Asia.

Bird buyers and owners are wary, though avian flu hasn't surfaced in the USA.

Pet store chain PetSmart recently put fact sheets in U.S. stores explaining that the deadly H5N1 avian flu virus has not surfaced in the USA ? in birds or humans. Simbad's Bird House in Miami has done the same. And the Pet Industry Joint Advisory Council, a trade association, is crafting a checklist of what bird owners should do if the virus makes it to North America.

"There's a lot of fear," says Alfredo Ona, owner of Simbad's. "There's a lot of people asking about it."

USATODAY.com - Pet bird buyers asking sellers about avian flu