Bird flu outbreak sparks concern
A HANDFUL of Ashbourne’s outlying villages are falling within a temporary control zone put in place in response to a new outbreak of avian influenza in South Derbyshire.
The case of H5N1 avian influenza, also known as bird flu, was confirmed after a visit to a commercial premises near Willington by the Animal and Plant Health Agency last week, and a 3km and 10km Temporary Control Zone have been put in place around the infected premises to limit the risk of the disease spreading.
The 10km zone includes villages such as Sutton-on-thehill, Dalbury Lees, Trusley and Radbourne, but it stops short of Kirk Langley, which was affected by a different control zone earlier in the year.
Within the temporary control zones a range of controls are now in place to prevent the spread of disease. These include restrictions on the movement of poultry and other captive birds, carcasses, eggs, used poultry litter and manure.
All keepers of birds in the disease control zones must follow increased measures while the restrictions are in place as a legal requirement.
Further details on the restrictions that apply in the disease control zones are available on the gov.uk website.
Derbyshire County Council says its trading standards officers are working closely with emergency planning colleagues and Derby City Council, the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs and the Animal and Plant Health Agency to control the outbreak.
County council highways officers are also liaising with colleagues in Derby, Leicestershire, Staffordshire and Highways England to ensure road signs are in place to warn people when they are entering the Temporary Control Zones.
Trading standards officers have been out in the affected area knocking on more than 8,000 doors in the 3km temporary control zone to identify any households keeping any type of bird to warn them of new restrictions and help to stop the spread of the disease.
They will also identify unregistered birds/flocks and report them back to Defra through the Animal and Plant Health Agency.
All agencies involved are encouraging all keepers to register their poultry, even if only kept as pets, so that the Animal and Plant Health Agency can contact them during an outbreak. This is a legal requirement for people who have 50 or more birds.
UK Health Security Agency has confirmed that the risk to public health is very low and the Food Standards Agency has said that bird flu poses a very low food safety risk for UK consumers. Properly cooked eggs and poultry are safe to eat.
Derbyshire County Council’s cabinet member for Health and Communities Carol Hart said: “Unfortunately we have had a confirmed case of avian flu in South Derbyshire and our trading standards officers, along with colleagues at Derby City, Leicestershire and Staffordshire are working closely with Defra to help reduce the spread of the disease.
“It’s really important that they identify anyone who has birds and ensure they know about the restrictions and follow the rules to the letter.
“The risk to public health is low but people travelling into the control zone need to be aware of the outbreak. There will be roadside signs up in the area telling people when they are entering the zone.”
Last month Derbyshire’s trading standards backed a call issued by the UK’S four Chief Veterinary Officers urging bird keepers to take action and improve biosecurity standards to protect kept birds and reduce the risk of any outbreaks.
The risk to kept birds rises as winter approaches due to migratory wild birds infecting domestic birds.
An Avian Influenza Prevention Zone (AIPZ) is now in force across Great Britain to mitigate the risk of the disease spreading amongst poultry and captive birds.
This means bird keepers across the country must keep domestic ducks and geese separate from other poultry, ensure the areas where birds are kept are unattractive to wild birds, for example by netting ponds, and by removing wild bird food sources, feed and water their birds in enclosed areas to discourage wild birds, minimise movement into and out of bird enclosures, cleanse and disinfect footwear and keep areas where birds live clean and tidy, reduce any existing contamination by cleansing and disinfecting concrete areas, and fencing off wet or boggy areas, keep free-ranging birds within fenced areas, and ponds, watercourses and permanent standing water must be fenced off.