From the first two paragraphs of the linked article you perhaps overlooked:
"SALT LAKE CITY State wildlife officials hope the West Nile virus that has felled 27 American bald eagles in Utah will leave with the infected grebes that brought it here during their winter migration.Grebes are birds. They died of West Nile and the eagles ate them and died. Residents apparently didn't eat the dead grebes, so they didn't die."The problem will leave with the grebes," said Mark Hadley, spokesman with the Utah Division of Wildlife Resources, adding that the eared grebes are slated to leave the state by mid-January."
Grebes are birds. They died of West Nile and the eagles ate them and died. Residents apparently didn’t eat the dead grebes, so they didn’t die.
***
That makes sense and it is sad.