Bird Flu and Releasing Birds This Season

dogpat

Hey,
Our club are currently considering whether or not to release pheasants this year. There is some anxiety over the bird flu scare. Any opinions on this, should we go ahead and release this year or not?

Double Barrel

I am going to play it by ear and see what happens but I will keep well informed and vigilant.
From the Game Conservancy Trust:

"In the event of an outbreak in the UK controls will be both local and national.

* An outbreak in commercial poultry will trigger an immediate national ban on the movement of birds until the situation is assessed. This movement ban could last one week in the case of a single outbreak or longer if there are multiple cases. This means that gamebirds or their eggs cannot be moved, so this would stop the supply and release of birds. All poultry will have to be housed or separated from wild birds.
* At a local level, in the case of an outbreak in either wild or domesticated birds, restrictions will be placed around the infected site (Protection and Surveillance Zones and Risk Areas). These restrictions will limit the movement of birds, eggs etc and their release and is likely to limit shooting.
* One restriction will be that all poultry must be housed away from wild birds. Defra accept that gamebirds cannot be housed and have given guidelines on how to separate domestic birds from wild. Close netting (25mm mesh) and feeding and watering under cover will help prevent infection. A main route of transmission is contaminated water. Installing nipple drinkers with a closed tank reduces this risk.
* International restrictions may stop the import of gamebirds and eggs into the UK. It could also restrict the export of dead game from the UK.

The restrictions on the movement of gamebirds will have differing effects depending on the season. For example, in the spring they may restrict the stocking of game farms with eggs or day olds, whereas in summer it may stop shoots from buying birds or prevent birds from being released".

More information can be found at:

http://www.gct.org.uk/article.asp?PageId=78&ArticleId=172

The restrictions which will be introduced will be more in line with those put in place during the recent foot and mouth outbreak rather than mad cow which did not disrupt access to the countryside.

According to this article Russia appears to have decided to ban bird hunting in the face of bird flu concerns.

http://en.rian.ru/russia/20060314/44285197.html

I just heard from the organizers of a shoot in Wales. Usually, by now, they have booked 80%+ of their days, but estates (and guns) have been reconsidering their options and bookings are way down. The evolving policy seems to be that people are taking bookings, but aren't invoicing until either firm cancellation procedures are in place or more is known about the flu. In any case, it looks to be an uneasy season.


The Society of Infectious Diseases blog http://www.promedmail.org/pls/promed/f?p=2400:1001:5975751776617364446::NO::F2400_P1001_BACK_PAGE,F2400_P1001_PUB_MAIL_ID:1000,31769
moderator has posted an excellent article appearing in New Scientist Magazine about the origin of the spread of H5N1 around the world. There is currently a huge debate going on in the scientific community about whether the lethal disease that has killed 50% of the humans it has infected and caused hundreds of thousands of birds to die or be culled, is spread through migratory birds or infected domestic poultry transports.

This is an excellent summary of bird flu to date, written by editors of a blog known as Effect Measure. The editors are world renown public health officials who write under an alias b/c they are afraid of losing their jobs b/c they disagree with the policies of the Bush administration. http://effectmeasure.blogspot.com/

http://www.birdflubeacon.com/

http://www.agricultureb2b.com/issues/S13211/Poultry-Farming/info-3-News.php

http://www.bsava.com/newscomment/avianflu/planning/

http://www.promedmail.org/pls/promed/f?p=2400:1000:5975751776617364446:::::

dathi1

Just as a matter of interest....why do clubs have to release birds for a shoot? Aren't there enough wild ones? Every time I head up the mountains I see and hear pheasants everywhere. I'm still an amateur clay shooter but someday I'd love to cook my own roast wild pheasant.

Double Barrel

H5N1 is spread mainly through contact with the faeces of an infected bird.
In "normal" wild situations, the intensive contact of birds with faeces is limited.
Amongst domestic poultry and farmed game, of course, the threat of increased infectivity is much greater. Good farm practice mixed with sensible farm biosecurity should be effective in preventing, or at least limiting, any outbreak amongst captive birds in the conditions we are dealing with.

Double Barrel

Dathi1,
'I see and hear pheasants everywhere."
We have to become fast friends.

shinobi

dathi1 wrote:

Just as a matter of interest....why do clubs have to release birds for a shoot? Aren't there enough wild ones? Every time I head up the mountains I see and hear pheasants everywhere. I'm still an amateur clay shooter but someday I'd love to cook my own roast wild pheasant.

If it wasn't for clubs releasing pheasants there'd be none in the wild. They are an introduced species & don't mate very successfully in the wild.;)

Double Barrel

Fact:

Male Pheasants are polygamous and their very aggressive breeding habits ensures that all receptive hens are bred.

The lack of suitable pheasant habitat is the number one reason for the dwindling number of wild birds.