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Pandemics and health scares seem to arrive at a mile a minute these days. There’s been COVID, monkeypox, and now there’s an outbreak of bird flu. Don’t worry though, it’s not spreading to humans… yet. But there are grave concerns after several swans have been found dead in London canals, with their cause of death likely being avian influenza – ‘bird flu’.
Now, more than 30 birds have been found dead from bird flu at two Royal Parks. Over the past fortnight, the birds were found at Hyde Park and Kensington Palace. The Royals Parks said it was ‘very concerned’ about its ‘largest ever’ outbreak.
This isn’t an isolated event. In October, around a dozen dead swans and geese were discovered floating in the canals around Little Venice by a tour operator, Ben Perkins. He told the BBC that while he would usually see dead birds once every few months, he was now seeing them ‘all the time’.
Bird flu seems to have a chokehold on wildlife across the country, and the UK is currently experiencing its biggest-ever outbreak of avian flu. So far, 161 cases have been reported in captive birds, with more than 1,700 cases confirmed in wild birds. To control the outbreak, more than 3 million birds have been culled.
A similar incident was reported in Suffolk, where 18 swans, two black-headed gulls and a heron were found dead in the River Stour.
While the cause of death to the birds hasn’t been confirmed as bird flu yet, Sudbury Common Lands Charity suspects this is likely to be the case. The Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs (DEFRA) has explained that wild birds suffer a ‘range of diseases and injuries’ and that not all dead birds are necessarily victims of bird flu.
DEFRA said members of the public should call its helpline if they find one or more dead birds of prey, three or more dead gulls or other wild waterfowl – eg swans, geese and ducks – or five or more dead birds of any other species.
Contact DEFRA on 03000 200 301. More details here.
A rare black swan called Bruce has died of bird flu in east London.
There’s a World Cup protest outside the Qatar embassy tomorrow.