Chief vet warns 'one small mistake' can kill whole flocks as new bird flu measures come in

The UK is facing its largest outbreak of bird flu, with 227 cases confirmed on commercial premises, smallholdings and in pet birds since October last year. There have been 93 cases since October 1 2022. On Saturday the highly pathogenic strain of the H5N1 virus was confirmed in a commercial flock at an eleventh premises near Dereham, Breckland, Norfolk.

RSPB Bempton Cliffs - where half a million seabirds gather every year to raise a chick - had its worst breeding season ever for gannets, its largest inhabitants, which return to the same nest site from West Africa every year. Hundreds of adults and chicks are believed to have died. The housing measures legally require all bird keepers to keep their birds indoors and to follow stringent biosecurity measures to help protect their flocks from the disease, regardless of type or size.These include cleansing and disinfecting footwear and clothing before and after contact with birds, reducing the movement of people on to premises and storing bedding properly so it does not get contaminated by wild birds.

“A housing order alone will not be enough to reduce infection rates. Implementing scrupulous biosecurity and separating flocks from wild birds remains the best form of defence. Whether you keep just a few birds or thousands, from today onwards they must be housed under cover to protect them from this highly infectious disease.”

gregwrightYP I read on here somewhere that Grouse shooting places are allowed to import baby birds from abroad and release them into the wild. Is it true?

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