Avian Influenza preventing care for wild birds at Hawk Conservancy
The National Bird of Prey Hospital at the site has been closed
High levels of Bird flu are severely disrupting care efforts at the National Bird of Prey Hospital in West Hampshire.
The hospital, which is based at the Hawk Conservancy Trust at Weyhill, has had to stop taking in wild birds who need treatment to protect it’s own living collection.
Tom Morath, deputy head of living collection at the Trust, says it’s a problem that’s been growing over the last few years.
“It’s so much of a risk of a wild bird coming into the collection and potentially passing on that highly pathogenic disease,” he told Greatest Hits Radio.
A ‘highly infectious’ disease with no vaccine
Tom explained to us that the primary source of bird flu spreading so rapidly is caused by something that happens naturally among birds.
“It come’s from the movement of wild birds, because a huge number of birds migrate, it then passes from country to country very quickly.
“And because it’s very infectious, it infects the wild population very quickly.”
Because the virus can spread with such speed, the decision was taken to stop bringing in injured wild birds.
“Unfortunately, it’s been very difficult for us to carry out that particular part of our work,” Tom said.
According to nadis.org, there is no treatment for Avian Influenza in birds, and most countries have a policy of culling affected animals.
They go on to say that it is possible to produce a vaccine, however by the time such an option is commercially available, it’s likely that the virus would have mutated.