“Worst outbreak” of avian flu in wild birds
Wintering barnacle geese decimated by deadly disease
As many as 4,000 barnacle geese that were wintering on the Solway Firth, on the border between England and Scotland, have died from an ongoing and unprecedented outbreak of avian flu. The geese, which breed in Svalbard in arctic Norway, have been seen falling from the sky in distress and staff at the RSPB’s Mersehead reserve have been removing hundreds of carcasses that have washed up on the beach.
Conservationists now fear that more birds will die from the disease. “The classic avian flu pattern is for the outbreak to peak in early winter, followed by a second wave later in the season that can be more deadly,” says Martin Fowlie, senior media officer at the RSPB.
The current outbreak of avian flu was first detected last autumn, and while it has killed small numbers of birds across the UK, including mute swans, Canada geese and widgeon, the Solway Firth is the worst affected area.
“Avian flu occurs naturally in the wild at low levels, predominantly in duck and geese populations, and normally it isn’t a problem,” says Fowlie. “However, this is the worst outbreak in wild birds that we’ve seen and we are increasingly worried about the impacts on wild birds both here and in other countries.”
The disease has now been confirmed in 27 countries across Europe, with Israel being one of the worst hit, reporting the deaths of at least 5,000 common cranes.
Avian flu is known to originate in high-density poultry farms in the Far East, where it then spills over into wild bird populations, although exactly how the latest deadly strain arrived in Europe has yet to be identified.
While wild birds can play a role in transmitting avian flu, Fowlie doesn’t believe they are to blame for the current outbreak: “The evidence from previous outbreaks suggests that it’s the movement of poultry and poultry products that is responsible for a lot of the
spread of the disease.”