In a statement to the Irish Farmers Journal, Dublin Zoo said that all its captive birds have been moved indoors to the zoo’s large back-of-house facilities. “This precautionary measure has been taken to prevent birds in the Dublin Zoo collection from contracting bird flu from wild birds,” it said.
Birds that were moved indoors include eight ostriches, 16 humboldt penguins, 25 waldrapp ibis, five common peafowl, two macaws, a breeding group of 82 Chilean flamingos, and a number of chickens and ducks from the family farm.
The statement added that Dublin Zoo “takes all bird flu directive from the Department of Agriculture, Food and the Marine. As soon as Dublin Zoo was notified at the end of December, it began implementing their contingency plan”.
The Department of Agriculture introduced housing regulations for bird owners in Ireland on 23 December, following two cases of bird flu in Britain.
The birds were infected with the same highly infectious H5N8 strain that has been spreading through Europe since late October.
The threat of bird flu infecting commercial poultry flocks in Ireland increased in recent days as the third case of H5N8 in poultry flocks was detected in Britain.
So far, just one case of the H5N8 strain has been identified in Ireland. The strain was confirmed in a wild duck in Co Wexford in late December.
IFA poultry chair Nigel Renaghan has called on the Department of Agriculture to communicate directly with bird owners regarding the importance of housing their flocks.
Read more
Full coverage: bird flu
In a statement to the Irish Farmers Journal, Dublin Zoo said that all its captive birds have been moved indoors to the zoo’s large back-of-house facilities. “This precautionary measure has been taken to prevent birds in the Dublin Zoo collection from contracting bird flu from wild birds,” it said.
Birds that were moved indoors include eight ostriches, 16 humboldt penguins, 25 waldrapp ibis, five common peafowl, two macaws, a breeding group of 82 Chilean flamingos, and a number of chickens and ducks from the family farm.
The statement added that Dublin Zoo “takes all bird flu directive from the Department of Agriculture, Food and the Marine. As soon as Dublin Zoo was notified at the end of December, it began implementing their contingency plan”.
The Department of Agriculture introduced housing regulations for bird owners in Ireland on 23 December, following two cases of bird flu in Britain.
The birds were infected with the same highly infectious H5N8 strain that has been spreading through Europe since late October.
The threat of bird flu infecting commercial poultry flocks in Ireland increased in recent days as the third case of H5N8 in poultry flocks was detected in Britain.
So far, just one case of the H5N8 strain has been identified in Ireland. The strain was confirmed in a wild duck in Co Wexford in late December.
IFA poultry chair Nigel Renaghan has called on the Department of Agriculture to communicate directly with bird owners regarding the importance of housing their flocks.
Read more
Full coverage: bird flu
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