The ongoing bird flu outbreak has “increased dramatically” over the last several days, Scotland’s chief vet has warned.
It comes after Aberdeenshire council reported that upwards of 300 dead birds have been found washed up on shores in the local authority’s beaches recently.
Sheila Voas, the chief veterinary officer for Scotland, said the number of cases of avian influenza had not only increased in the last week, and that cases have been found “not just in Aberdeenshire but across the whole country”.
She told BBC Radio Scotland’s Good Morning Scotland programme: “The whole of the east coast of Great Britain is expecting problems, particularly with gulls, guillemots and terns.”
Ms Voas also said that “almost all” 32,000 chickens infected with the illness at an Aberdeenshire farm have been culled.
READ MORE: Bird flu 'high alert' after hundreds of dead birds found on Scottish beaches
She added that despite the high numbers, the risk factor remains low.
Producers working with poultry should take appropriate security measures to minimise the chances of an outbreak, she said, and members of the public, including dog walkers, should stay away from dead birds.
Ms Voas said there are measures that can be put in place if an outbreak becomes significant enough, such as prevention zones and the necessary housing of birds.
Asked if she is considering this, she said she is “keeping the situation under review”.
She added: “At the moment, it’s not warranted but that’s something that could change on a daily or weekly basis.
“To be honest, it’s unusual at this time of year. It’s generally a disease of winter when it’s brought back to the country by water foul migrating.”
Elsewhere in the country, Fife council confirmed they have not had any reported cases of the flu as of yet, but have measures in place if necessary.
Moray Council said they have so far only had one case of bird flu confirmed in recent months.
A spokesperson said: “To date, we’ve not received any reports of suspected cases or actual cases of bird flu in Moray, other than the confirmed case in the back garden flock near Forres.
“We would encourage anyone concerned about bird flu to follow the Scottish Government advice on what to do.”
READ MORE: Hundreds of dead birds continue to wash up in Aberdeenshire
Aberdeen City Council said they have collected about 100 dead birds from the city’s beach in the past two weeks.
A spokesperson said: “Aberdeen City Council is keeping an active check on the beach for dead birds and would remind the public that if they come across dead birds to report it to Aberdeen City Council. This can be done via the council website or by phoning 03000 200 292.”
The Royal Society for the Protection of Birds Scotland, the British Trust for Ornithology (BTO) and the National Trust for Scotland collectively voiced their concern that an birds are dying of the virus at an increased rate.
They revealed there have been reports of dead birds being washed up from Wick in Caithness to St Abbs in Berwickshire.
The virus has also been found at NatureScot’s Forvie National Nature Reserve (NNR) in black-headed gulls and sandwich terns.
Signs of bird flu has also been spotted in both common and arctic terns at the reserve and kittiwakes on the Isle of May NNR have tested positive, with the death toll on the rise.
Alastair MacGugan, a NatureScot wildlife manager, said testing is key to unravelling what is happening with the country’s seabirds.
He said: “Unfortunately, after a quieter period, we are beginning to see an increase in the number of dead birds being reported through our surveillance network, particularly on the east coast.
“While we are thankfully not seeing the large numbers of dead birds around breeding sites that we did last year, this development is really concerning and we’re working hard with all partners in Scotland’s Avian Flu Task Force to understand what is happening and take action to make our wild bird populations more resilient.”
Dr Liz Humphreys, BTO Scotland principal seabird ecologist, said: “It’s clear that our seabirds are still being badly affected by HPAI, despite the fact the scale of mortality initially seemed less catastrophic than last year.”
She urged members of the public to submit all sightings of dead birds to BirdTrack and the dead wild birds service.
The Scottish Government confirmed measures to stop the spread are in place around the premises in Aberdeenshire.
A spokesperson said: “A 3km protection zone and 10km surveillance zone have been placed around the infected premises, meaning the application of movement restrictions within these zones, such as poultry, carcases, eggs, used poultry litter and manure, to prevent any further spread of disease.
“The risk to the general public’s health from avian influenza is very low.
“However, the risk to people with intensive exposure to infected birds is considered to be low.
“Food Standards Scotland advises that avian influenzas pose a very low food safety risk for consumers, and it does not affect the consumption of poultry products, including eggs.”
Sightings of dead birds can be reported at https://www.gov.uk/guidance/report-dead-wild-birds or by phoning the helpline on: 03459 33 55 77.
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