There have been another four positive tests for H5N8 in wild birds in the last week: and Defra is still being cryptic about their localities. These new records only amount to four birds apparently but the Dorset case involves Mute Swans when presumably it should involve a Mute Swan – this shows the normal attention to detail of Defra on anything to do with wild birds.
The other cases are from Lancashire (Tufted Duck), Gloucestershire (a Greylag Goose) and Tyne and Wear (Black-headed Gull). Could be Martin Mere, Slimbridge (again) and Washington WWT centres – or maybe not.
But over a month after the first case was confirmed and restrictions imposed on poultry-keepers, both commercial and domestic, Defra has finally got around to releasing some advice to Pheasant stakeholders (dated 13 January)!
Notice that this information comes from ‘countryside and game shooting organisations’ – just another case of the countryside being equated with a place that people want to kill things. Apparently, the impacts of H5N8 on shooting are ‘hard to exaggerate’ – good job it only took something like a month to get the information out then!
We now see that there is a legal requirement for all captive birds, including gamebirds, to be kept separate from wild birds!
There is a reminder that there is a longstanding legal requirement to register with government if you hold more than 50 gamebirds even temporarily. Interesting!
There is a whole lot of information on biosecurity, which I guess might come as a bit of a shock to a few gamekeepers. And what steps are the shooting organisations taking to get this information out, rather belatedly, to their members, I wonder? Not much prominence in their social media accounts as far as I can see – either now or earlier.
Outdoor pens holding gamebirds should be netted – to stop the wild birds getting in whether they be Buzzards or White-fronted Geese with hacking coughs!
The Gamebird Code of 2009 apparently states “In order to minimise the risk of disease transmission and promote welfare, laying stock should, wherever possible, be maintained as a closed breeding flock. Where adult laying birds have to be brought in, particularly from the wild, all possible action should be taken to check the provenance and health of the birds.” Well, I’m sure everyone has been doing that.
There’s loads of useful stuff here – pity it wasn’t published earlier. Difficult to know whether the attention to this subject on social media (and, ahem, on this blog here, here) had anything to do with the publication of this advice at this very late stage.
In other news, a different strain of bird flu has caused hundreds of cats to be quarantined around Trump Tower and beyond.
In more other news, an unidentified (in the article) strain of bird flu has been reported in Uganda.
In even more other news, there have been two Wigeon found with H5N8 in the Republic of Ireland.
[registration_form]
Quietly turning into the 2001 foot & mouth fiasco.
I keep hearing about F&M being a scandal, but the disease was stopped and the wildlife in the countryside by and large did okay. Is it just anti-Blairite sentiment or is there more to it?
Pretty sure the Dorset case is Abbotsbury, and was indeed nine mute swans.
Jenny – this is a second case
Do you think that
“Around the outbreaks in captive flocks there are additional restrictions, usually out to 10km from the infected premises and often lasting many weeks. These include restrictions on the movement of birds, bird products and people and also an automatic ban on all gamebird releasing. Licences can sometimes be obtained for movements but never for releasing.”
means that a turkey farm in central Norfolk found to have H5N8 could result in the prohibition of the release of pheasant poults on all estates in a 10km radius?
That would be quite challenging should it happen in the late summer/autumn.
“We now see that there is a legal requirement for all captive birds, including gamebirds, to be kept separate from wild birds!
There is a reminder that there is a longstanding legal requirement to register with government if you hold more than 50 gamebirds even temporarily. Interesting!”
As you say above, interesting watching the shooting industry complying with that? We can already hear the excuses being offered in along the corridors and mutterings of red tape …..
“There is a reminder that there is a longstanding legal requirement to register with government if you hold more than 50 gamebirds even temporarily. Interesting!”
Very interesting. I’m not sure that’s been articulated clearly by Defra before. Get that FOI request in quickly Mark. I bet there’s very few gamebird holdings on the poultry register