VIGILANCE CALL

Welcoming the move at European level, NFU Scotland stressed the need for continued vigilance on poultry biosecurity measures throughout the industry – and issued a plea to smallscale and back-yard poultry keepers to play their part in preventing spread of the disease.

“While the extension is to be welcomed, epidemiologists have indicated there is a real risk of further avian influenza circulating in the wildfowl which have migrated to the UK for the winter,” said the union’s communications chief, Bob Carruth. “This means it is critical for everyone to play their part should the disease be identified.”

He said that NFUS had organised a number of meetings over the autumn months looking at biosecurity measures for the poultry industry, aimed at reducing the risks of infection and spread -and these had been open to both commercial and domestic producers:

“It is important that everyone takes precautions – and while there have been no cases identified in the UK so far, there have already been outbreaks on mainland Europe’” said Carruth.

He said that to help the authorities understand where flocks were located Defra now has a voluntary registration scheme for flocks under 50 birds – and he urged everyone with hens to register.