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Swans tested for bird flu in Caernarfon
Jun 13 2008 by Hywel Trewyn, Daily Post
BIRD flu tests will be carried out today on seven swans found dead in a river near Caernarfon.
The carcasses were discovered floating in the Seiont not far from the town?s historic castle.
Locals alerted harbour master Richard Jones on Wednesday, and his team recovered three dead swans in the morning, followed by four more in the afternoon.
Yesterday the team were back at the riverbank after residents reported another swan appeared to be ill.
Mr Jones said he was initially advised by Defra that the government would not test for bird flu in cases involving less than 10 dead wild birds.
He was advised to safely bag up the birds in black bin liners and throw them into a waste bin.
But last night the Welsh Assembly confirmed experts would test the carcasses today, as part of the avian flu surveillance programme.
They stressed at this stage there was no evidence bird flu could be the cause of death.
The harbour master and his team were baffled as to how the animals had died. The Environment Agency said as there were no dead fish in the river, it was not believed they had been poisoned.
But some local fishermen feared an unusual foam they had spotted on the surface could be to blame.
Questions were last night being asked about why officials had not investigated earlier.
Mr Jones said: ?I had the first report about 10.30am from a lady walking her dog who said she?d seen a dead swan near the Aber swing bridge.
?I had to get into the water myself and pick them up using gloves.
?I placed each one in a plastic bag tied it and put the bag and the gloves in another bag and tied that up ? which meant they were double-bagged.?
?Half of them had been dead a while. They were starting to smell, and rigormortis was setting in.
?I asked the Defra helpline operator about the possibility of Avian Flu and she was quite surprised their system had not come up with any alarms. My information wasn?t telling her to take any action.?
Richard said he counted 14 healthy swans a few days ago and there had been as many as 60 in the past.
?I am obviously worried,? he said. ?I probably would be more alarmed but Defra and the Environment Agency are not taking it seriously. We?re obviously monitoring the situation.?
Yesterday Richard took a call from local fishermen who had come across foam in the river.
Richard said: ?They thought it could have been the cause of the deaths. I reported it to the Environment Agency but I haven?t heard anything since.
?You would have thought it would warrant further investigation.?
Later yesterday Mr Jones had a call from Defra?s chief veterinary officer asking them to take the swans out of the bins, and telling them somebody would collect them today.
A Welsh Assembly Government spokesperson said: ?We are aware of the situation.
?As a precaution the birds will be collected and samples taken for testing as part of the avian influenza wild bird surveillance programme.
?Wild birds die for a variety of reasons and there is currently no evidence to suggest in this case that bird flu is present.?
Gwynedd council and the Environment Agency said they had not been contacted by any other agencies that required them to take action.
Jun 13 2008 by Hywel Trewyn, Daily Post
BIRD flu tests will be carried out today on seven swans found dead in a river near Caernarfon.
The carcasses were discovered floating in the Seiont not far from the town?s historic castle.
Locals alerted harbour master Richard Jones on Wednesday, and his team recovered three dead swans in the morning, followed by four more in the afternoon.
Yesterday the team were back at the riverbank after residents reported another swan appeared to be ill.
Mr Jones said he was initially advised by Defra that the government would not test for bird flu in cases involving less than 10 dead wild birds.
He was advised to safely bag up the birds in black bin liners and throw them into a waste bin.
But last night the Welsh Assembly confirmed experts would test the carcasses today, as part of the avian flu surveillance programme.
They stressed at this stage there was no evidence bird flu could be the cause of death.
The harbour master and his team were baffled as to how the animals had died. The Environment Agency said as there were no dead fish in the river, it was not believed they had been poisoned.
But some local fishermen feared an unusual foam they had spotted on the surface could be to blame.
Questions were last night being asked about why officials had not investigated earlier.
Mr Jones said: ?I had the first report about 10.30am from a lady walking her dog who said she?d seen a dead swan near the Aber swing bridge.
?I had to get into the water myself and pick them up using gloves.
?I placed each one in a plastic bag tied it and put the bag and the gloves in another bag and tied that up ? which meant they were double-bagged.?
?Half of them had been dead a while. They were starting to smell, and rigormortis was setting in.
?I asked the Defra helpline operator about the possibility of Avian Flu and she was quite surprised their system had not come up with any alarms. My information wasn?t telling her to take any action.?
Richard said he counted 14 healthy swans a few days ago and there had been as many as 60 in the past.
?I am obviously worried,? he said. ?I probably would be more alarmed but Defra and the Environment Agency are not taking it seriously. We?re obviously monitoring the situation.?
Yesterday Richard took a call from local fishermen who had come across foam in the river.
Richard said: ?They thought it could have been the cause of the deaths. I reported it to the Environment Agency but I haven?t heard anything since.
?You would have thought it would warrant further investigation.?
Later yesterday Mr Jones had a call from Defra?s chief veterinary officer asking them to take the swans out of the bins, and telling them somebody would collect them today.
A Welsh Assembly Government spokesperson said: ?We are aware of the situation.
?As a precaution the birds will be collected and samples taken for testing as part of the avian influenza wild bird surveillance programme.
?Wild birds die for a variety of reasons and there is currently no evidence to suggest in this case that bird flu is present.?
Gwynedd council and the Environment Agency said they had not been contacted by any other agencies that required them to take action.
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