But RFK Jr., the secretary of health and human services, is planning to intervene and rescue the flock. He and Mehmet Oz, the former daytime TV host appointed by Trump as the director of the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid, have teamed up to bring the ostriches to Oz’s ranch in Florida.

The Department of Health and Human Services has pulled funding to help develop a bird flu vaccine, because of course it has.

After rebounding in recent decades due to conservation efforts, the number of once-imperiled peregrine falcons in the U.S. has been dropping again in some places due to the bird flu that has decimated other avian populations in recent years.

During a call with U.S. doctors this month, one CDC official noted that there is a seasonality to bird flu: Cases peak in the fall and early winter, possibly due to the migration patterns of wild birds that are primary spreaders of the virus.

Robert F. Kennedy Jr. and Dr. Oz are fighting to save hundreds of ostriches that have been ordered to be killed to prevent a possible spread of bird flu.