(RALEIGH) -- In August, as a precautionary response to the spread of avian flu, State Agriculture Commissioner Steve Troxler introduced the registration of bird flocks as a tool for officials to get necessary information out to owners quicker and easier.

Jennifer Kendrick from the Agriculture Department says more than 3,000 people with backyard flocks have registered since August. "The thing is, we don't even know how many birds are out there," Kendrick said. "So that's 3,000 more people that we can keep informed if we do have an introduction of avian influenza in the state. We're very happy with the number of registrations we've gotten so far."

The virus has not yet shown up in North Carolina, but Commissioner Troxler told the Senate Agriculture Committee in May that he believed it could make it here sometime in the fall.