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An investigation is under way into the suspected presence of bird flu in a poultry flock in Co Fermanagh by officials from the Department of Agriculture, Environment and Rural Affairs (DAERA).
“DAERA officials are currently investigating the suspected presence of a notifiable avian disease (NAD) in a broiler breeder flock in Co Fermanagh,” a spokesperson for DAERA told the Irish Farmers Journal.
“A private veterinary practitioner contacted DAERA on 2 January 2020 expressing concerns related to the increased mortality of birds at the holding.
“DAERA immediately initiated a veterinary enquiry with a divisional veterinary officer visiting the holding on the evening of 2 January 2020."
Restrictions have been served on the farm and samples have been taken from birds and transported to AFBI.
Testing for notifiable bird diseases including avian influenza and Newcastle disease is ongoing.
Meeting
The spokesperson said that DAERA officials are holding a stakeholder meeting on Monday 6 January to provide an update on this investigation and discuss potential next steps while results are pending.
“All bird keepers are urged to remain vigilant and if they suspect any signs of the disease in their flocks, they must report it immediately to DAERA.
“All bird keepers in NI are required by law to register with DAERA and a registration form can be downloaded from the DAERA website.
“All poultry keepers, including backyard flock keepers and those keeping game birds and pet birds, need to act now and maintain high levels of biosecurity at all times in order to reduce the risk of transmission of avian flu to their flocks.”
Text service
DAERA utilises a text alert service for all bird keepers to receive immediate notifications of disease outbreaks or other important disease information.
This enables bird keepers to take action to protect their flock at the earliest opportunity and they can subscribe to this service by simply texting ‘BIRDS’ to 67300.
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