EDINBURGH Zoo has banned the importing birds from Europe following an alert over a potentially fatal bird flu virus on the continent.

The Scottish Government declared an Avian Influenza Prevention Zone on Tuesday requiring that all poultry and captive birds must be kept indoors, or otherwise kept separate from wild birds, which are potential carriers, as it seeks to prevent an outbreak of the virus.

Farmers have already told of the nightmare of having to deal with the 30-day 'lockdown' as they struggle to put birds indoors and some have claimed it to be an over-reaction.

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One farmer created a meshed-in enclosure for his birds to comply with the lockdown  Credit: Craigievern Poultry

Edinburgh Zoo has already said that it had temporarily axed the world-famous penguin parade, which dates back to 1951, as a result of the alert as a "precautionary measure". It has also taken the precaution of closing all walk-through aviaries until the restrictions are lifted.

Now it says it is preventing birds from coming in from Europe.

But it has decided to keep the penguins out in the open in their enclosure saying it is their understanding is that they do not have to keep their birds indoors and that they believe their extra biosecurity precautions will suffice.

Penguins are allowed to wander in their outdoor enclosure where some wild birds have been seen flying in and out, but the zoo says there are welfare implications "that we would rather avoid" over keeping animals indoors.

While wild birds have been seen in Penguin Rock, the zoo believes they were a resident group of herring gulls that do not migrate, and therefore were not a risk.

A type of highly pathogenic avian flu, H5N8, has been found in dead wild birds in over a dozen countries across Europe, from Poland to France.

Although no cases have been found in Scotland and the rest of the UK, it is feared the winter bird migration season heightens the risk of the strain being spread.

One of India's largest zoos closed its gates to visitors on October 19 following the death of death of 13 water birds. The zoo enjoyed a daily footfall of 10,000 visitors a day.

Nearly two months later, The National Zoological Park, or the Delhi zoo as it is popularly called, remains closed with officials saying on Thursday that they still are not sure about when the facility will be opened to public.

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One farmer has said he has been confused about the advice given and whether it really was a requirement to keep his birds indoors.

He said: "It is not at all clear whether we really do have to keep our birds indoors after all. The advice really is not clear."

A Scottish Government spokeswoman said that the Avian Influenza Prevention Zone, covering the whole of Scotland, required that "all poultry and captive birds to be kept indoors, or otherwise kept separate from wild birds".

She added: “The Prevention Zone conditions apply to all captive birds, including those in zoos. Many zoos already house their birds or have aviaries that keep captive birds separate from wild birds.

"If they are unable to house their birds, we encourage all bird keepers (including zookeepers) to implement steps to increase the biosecurity of their flock and reduce the likelihood of contact with wild birds.

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“This precautionary step was taken in response to multiple reports of H5N8 causing high mortality in wild birds in mainland Europe (mostly affecting waterfowl), and because migratory movements to GB usually peak in December to January.

"We agreed with calls from business and other stakeholders to put in place a 30 day housing period to help protect Scotland’s poultry industry, particularly in the weeks before Christmas.”

Oliver Davies of Edinburgh Zoo said: "We have stopped importing birds from Europe as a precaution. But it is important to say that the disease is still in Europe."

He said fish netting had been place on over the penguin nest site and crèche parts of the enclosure where birds could congregate and staff were actively discouraging wild birds from landing that are within the risk categories, particularly duck species, which he said was the key issue.

He said: "You do not have to take animals indoors. Fish lines will stop large bird species from landing, water fowl or duck species, which are the greatest threat. It stops them landing where the majority of our penguins congregate for the majority of the time.

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"We are also keeping an eye out over the rest of the enclosure through our keeping staff throughout the day and discouraging birds from landing. They are also handfeeding birds and by that you don't leave food lying about which, again, will discourage birds from landing.

"This approach is similar to that being taken by a number of other zoological collections, not to mention those in the free range poultry industry.

"I think it is important to say that we are making the decisions based on the best animal welfare that we can and we if advice changes, we have contingency plans to effect if that happens. However, putting animals indoors, specifically penguins, does have welfare implications that we would rather avoid."