Poultry farmers in Scotland have been urged to boost security after a case of bird flu was confirmed.
The National Farmers Union (NFU) Scotland said the virus, thought to have been contracted from wild birds, was found in Scotland last week.
READ MORE: Coronavirus: New powers will allow Government to forcibly quarantine victims
Among recommended measures to promote biosecurity are cleaning and disinfecting vehicles and equipment that have come into contact with poultry and fencing off flocks to separate them from wild birds.
Urgent message for poultry keepers.
Low pathogenic Avian Influenza (AI), thought to have been contracted from wild birds, was confirmed in a Scottish free range laying flock at the end of last week.
Please ensure highest levels of biosecurity at this time.
— NFU Scotland (@NFUStweets) February 10, 2020
In a statement, NFU Scotland said: “Urgent message for poultry keepers.
“Low pathogenic Avian Influenza (AI), thought to have been contracted from wild birds, was confirmed in a Scottish free range laying flock at the end of last week.
“Please ensure highest levels of biosecurity at this time.”
In December, all 27,000 birds at a commercial poultry farm in Suffolk were culled after a number were found to have the H5 strain of avian flu, identified as “low pathogenic”.
Why are you making commenting on The Herald only available to subscribers?
It should have been a safe space for informed debate, somewhere for readers to discuss issues around the biggest stories of the day, but all too often the below the line comments on most websites have become bogged down by off-topic discussions and abuse.
heraldscotland.com is tackling this problem by allowing only subscribers to comment.
We are doing this to improve the experience for our loyal readers and we believe it will reduce the ability of trolls and troublemakers, who occasionally find their way onto our site, to abuse our journalists and readers. We also hope it will help the comments section fulfil its promise as a part of Scotland's conversation with itself.
We are lucky at The Herald. We are read by an informed, educated readership who can add their knowledge and insights to our stories.
That is invaluable.
We are making the subscriber-only change to support our valued readers, who tell us they don't want the site cluttered up with irrelevant comments, untruths and abuse.
In the past, the journalist’s job was to collect and distribute information to the audience. Technology means that readers can shape a discussion. We look forward to hearing from you on heraldscotland.com
Comments & Moderation
Readers’ comments: You are personally liable for the content of any comments you upload to this website, so please act responsibly. We do not pre-moderate or monitor readers’ comments appearing on our websites, but we do post-moderate in response to complaints we receive or otherwise when a potential problem comes to our attention. You can make a complaint by using the ‘report this post’ link . We may then apply our discretion under the user terms to amend or delete comments.
Post moderation is undertaken full-time 9am-6pm on weekdays, and on a part-time basis outwith those hours.
Read the rules here