August 26, 2005

UK to test migratory birds for bird flu

The UK is reportedly going to test migratory birds within the country for the deadly bird flu strain that recently hit Russia.

Experts said that if the virus spread further west to the European side of the Ural mountains, it would be highly possible for infected migratory birds from Russia to spread bird flu to free-range British poultry.

Senior scientists have reportedly advised the British government against mass culling of wild birds because it would prove ineffective in curbing the virus's spread to domestic poultry. Instead they stated the importance of testing wild birds for the virus as an indicator.

Birds to be tested would include wild ducks, geese, swans and possibly gulls.

Meanwhile, the UK's Department for Food and Rural Affairs (DEFRA) said the risk of wild birds spreading bird flu was considered too low to require a ban on keeping free-range poultry in the open, but that would be considered if the virus spread west of Russia's Ural Mountains.

DEFRA would also meet with the Royal Society for the Protection of Birds and the British Trust for Ornithology, to work out a closer monitoring system where bird watchers would be enlisted to provide an early bird flu warning system.

The government wanted birdwatchers to be highly alert for groups of migratory birds that died for unexplained reasons.