Avian flu outbreak

This has been bad for months now. Wiping out thousands of sea birds and made its way inland good and proper.

We’re in the middle of a disease control area. Have to be careful out and about around the lakes. I’ve seen a few dead swans and geese in the past couple of weeks.
 
I seen the strangest sight of 4 swans lying on the path at the park today, completely oblivious to all the people and dogs having to weave past them, I wonder if they were suffering from this?
 
I can't remember the last time I had turkey for Christmas.

I wonder what's caused this and whether or not it is transmittable to humans or another animals.
 
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Minusorange said:
It's a shame that the worry of whether plates will be full at christmas is what causes the headline and not the devastating impact it could leave on delicate eco systems and food chains
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That's because nobody cares unless it impacts them directly.
 
Freefaller said:
I wonder what's caused this and whether or not it is transmittable to humans or another animals.
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Probably factory farming of poultry. In other words too many people expecting cheap and plentiful food raised in unnatural conditions, pumped full of antibiotics, legitimately or illegitimately.
 
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Probably have to keep my chickens in thier run.

Seems to happen every year now. Claudia will not be happy.
 
This has been going on for years, it's just considerably worse this year compared with normal and getting far more nationwide coverage than usual. It's usually on the local news when it happens though.

I'm relatively near to some of the chicken farms that have been affected and they literally have to kill off every chicken if just one is infected...
Some of the zoos/aviaries with birds are netting in enclosures with fine mesh to even stop small birds like sparrows getting near their flocks...

East Anglia, Norfolk especially, is a prime breeding ground for migratory birds, not to mention local birds (some of which are VERY rare) and the migrating birds basically bring it back with them each visit so you get a repeating cycle every year. This country can do everything it can to prevent it spreading but the unfortunate thing is some countries just don't do anything to try and reduce the spread. I actually think the UK needs to be stricter than it's currently being too.

Luckily I'm not too worried about the loss of turkey at christmas but this could decimate the bird colonies we have round here, which in turn would upset the ecological balance (or make it even worse) of a primarily agriculture based region.
 
Chris Wilson said:
Probably factory farming of poultry. In other words too many people expecting cheap and plentiful food raised in unnatural conditions, pumped full of antibiotics, legitimately or illegitimately.
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Yes I suspect you're right. For years we've cut back on meat and even then we only buy from the local farms (advantage of living in the countryside) but as you say people want cheap meat which shouldn't exist really. This is why I'm not a fan of trade deals with USA for meat as they have even worse levels of hormone pumping and lower standards for meat. Plus the carbon footprint to consider too.

I realise it would create another 2 tier society element but I honestly feel that better quality meat and no cheap meats should be sold, unfortunately it does therefore become unaffordable for many in the current economic model.

You can't really have cheap and high quality in my opinion. And I'd rather have high quality or just avoid it altogether.
 
East coast it's really bad - about 30-40 dead birds within 5min walk. Looked like some sort of armageddon.
 
For most of this year the signboards have been up, you are now entering / leaving an avian flu area around Nantwich and surrounding districts.

I very much doubt it will affect turkey supply this Christmas. The last couple of years this has been threatened but never happened. Covid, Brexit, transport issues etc. Nada.
 
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