Bird cull at Whitby Wildlife Sanctuary
All of its birds have been killed, after the discovery of a case of Avian Flu.
Whitby Wildlife Sanctuary says all the birds on its site have been culled, after the discovery of a case of Bird Flu.
It says it was the decision of the government's Animal and Plant Heath Agency.
The Sanctuary has posted this statement on its Facebook page:
"This was in no way our choice and we fought extensively to protect all of the animals in our care. There was no sign of disease in any of the wild birds here, all of them were away from the infected area and were covered over with their own biosecurity in place. However APHA deemed it too risky to spare any of them. As we have learned this week, a negative test result does not save a bird from being culled.
"We appreciate how much everyone cares and is affected by the trauma we’ve experienced this week, but please know there has been a lot more going on behind the scenes than we’ve updated. So messages telling us what we should have done, what you would have done differently or how you feel we’ve failed are cruel and unhelpful, especially as no-one outside of our organisation knows the extent of the work we’ve done this week or the protocols we already had in place, all of which APHA inspected in fine detail and approved.
"We don’t know yet when we can allow volunteers back on site, nor when we can resume our usual work. Both of these are at the discretion of APHA. We will post another update when we can.
"Thank you again everyone, your messages of support mean a lot."