As he walked along the shores of a lake in the Highlands on a fine May afternoon, environmentalist and wildlife photographer Peter Stronach could scarcely believe what he was seeing. The beach was full of dead and dying birds: male ducks, several species of gulls, a gannet, a woodpecker and no less than 26 pink-footed geese, which by now should have returned to their breeding grounds. Icelandic breeding.
In total, Stronach recorded 72 individual birds of 17 species in the Loch Fleet National Nature Reserve on the east coast of Scotland that day, and many more in the following days.
But these birds had not been killed by a passing predator; nor were they the unfortunate victims of a sudden storm at sea. The cause of these deaths was a highly infectious virus, and for birds, usually lethal. H5N1 bird flu or, as it is more commonly known, bird flu, returns with revenge.
What really worries Stronach is the range of species he found. “Earlier this spring, we realized that bird flu was restricted to geese; but it has since spread to other wild birds, birds of prey and seabirds. “
In previous years, it occurred mainly in winter; now, he says, it is affecting the breeding populations of iconic coastal species such as edra.
Earlier this month, in other parts of Scotland, some 20 large dead or dying squirrels were found on Fair Isle, with more information from other breeding colonies on the Shetland Islands. This was followed by a severe outbreak of bird flu in 2021, when hundreds of skuas died.
For any species, these deaths are a serious setback, especially during the breeding season. But for big eskúas and pink-footed geese, this news is especially troubling. Scotland is home to 60% of the world’s large-bred breeding population, and 90% of the world’s pink-footed geese winter in the UK. For these two species, both on the amber list of birds of concern for conservation, bird flu could pose a serious threat to their long-term future.
Avian flu is by no means limited to the UK. In December 2021, an outbreak in the Hula Valley in northern Israel killed more than 5,000 cranes out of a wintering population of 30,000 birds. In what the Israeli government called “the deadliest wildlife disaster in the nation’s history,” workers wearing hazardous materials were photographed picking up corpses. After the outbreak, farmers were instructed to slaughter hundreds of thousands of chickens.
Workers wearing hazardous materials are removing one of the 5,000 cranes killed in the December bird flu outbreak in the Hula Valley, Israel. Photo: Ariel Schalit / AP
In Canada, a deadly strain of bird flu has already devastated the poultry industry, killing nearly 2 million chickens. It has now been transferred not only to wild birds but also to mammals. Although the disease is usually limited to waterfowl, this particular strain has attacked crows, woodpeckers, gulls, birds of prey and even young foxes.
The United States is suffering from what appears to be the worst outbreak of bird flu that farmers attribute to the transmission of wild birds. So far, more than 37 million chickens and turkeys have been slaughtered, and even more will come. If only one bird is positive, farmers must destroy the entire herd.
As one report points out, “In Wisconsin, dump truck lines have taken days to collect masses of bird carcasses and pile them up in unused fields. Neighbors live with the stench of rotting birds.” the Cuban eagle, the national bird of the United States, has been affected.
Warnings warn people not to feed swans at Jennings Pier in Windsor, England, following a bird flu outbreak in January. Photo: Maureen McLean / Rex / Shutterstock
Could it also affect humans? The answer is, in very rare cases, yes, usually those, such as farm workers, who have been in close and prolonged contact with infected domestic birds. From 2003 to 2021, nearly 500 people worldwide died after contracting the virus.
Clearly, bird flu is something we need to take seriously. But Stronach is concerned that the current monitoring and surveillance system is designed to protect commercial poultry businesses and is not really suitable for wild bird populations. “We need urgent research to find out what other species it is found in and, most importantly, the mechanisms by which it is spreading,” he says.
He is especially concerned that if dead birds are not collected after an outbreak, they can be scavenged by bronchi, red kites, gulls and skúas, thus spreading the disease even faster.
Anyone who finds a dead or dying wild bird, suspected of having the disease, should not touch the corpse; nor should they attempt to rescue him if he is still alive. In the UK, they should report their findings immediately to the Defra helpline: 03459 335577.
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