bird flu

[fishypaul]

with the migratory birds on the verge of making their way back to these shores i presume this is the most likely time for bird flu to come here,especially as it has now been found in france.
if any of us find a dead duck or any wild bird for that matter,do we know what to do ?.
obviously don't touch it or even go near it,

but what authorities should we notify ?

[baitmaster]

now thats very interesting question and once again we think alike cause this last session, i have seen a dead swan in the swim i was fishing and the others swans were hanging around i i wondered if it had died of bird flu and i also thought who do i contact .
then i thought maybe it died of something else and bird flu would not be here yet would it ? and have i acted irresponsibly by not reporting the swan even if it turned not to have died from it .
i think it would be prudent to find out the right prceedure to follow .
after thinking about this post i might tommorow phone the rspca and see what they say about the swan and i will keep you posted

tightlines
baitmaster

[Greenheart]

It's a bit worrying really. I spent most of today trying to fight off two huge swans that were eating my bait. Kept sneaking up behind me.

[baitmaster]

ok as i said yesterday i had to find out to report an incident .

what you have to do first is phone the goverment helpline :0870 000 1585
and ask for the D.E.F.R.A. helpline to report a death they will give you a local number for your area who you then need to contact .

now there advice is as follow concerning swan deaths you phone even if its a single death .
however in the case of other wild fowl its if the death are multiple you then need to phone . but if its single death IE pigeons black birds robins etc don,t bother
hope that answers your question and it valueble info to who ever

tightlines
baitmaster

[Rob M]

Rob

[Indexer]

Not really sure about all this bird flu fear.

Are we scared due to cross infection to humans - if so why? I understand that only 14 people worldwide have died so far from bird flu. Surely there are many more things to worry about.

Are we scared for our birds? If so - it seems that some parts of Eastern Europe are culling all personally held birds kept outside. OK so we are worried for them - so we'll just kill them??

Confused from Windsor!