Going viral
Our vet on why not to handle dead wild birds and the reason poultry should be kept indoors
by BRUCE FOGLE
This has been a really bad winter for lethal flu infection in birds. Warning signs came last summer when the HSNl strain of bird flu killed many UK seabirds such as gannets, great skuas and terns. Then hundreds of barnacle geese died in Iceland, en route to wintering here. This foretold the devastation that would accompany the autumn migration of birds from the Arctic to our waterways and fields.
As a Defra Official Veterinarian, I receive daily reports on confirmed bird flu cases and, recently, common buzzards, Canada geese, sparrowhawks, common gulls, greylag geese, mute swans, herring gulls, whooper swans and mallard ducks have all tested positive for the virus here. Birds can recover from avian flu - and also pass it on without symptoms - but many infected will die.