Rural and Environment

  • Lifting of Disease Control Zones

    21st January 2022 by

    Scotland’s Chief Veterinary Officer provides advice to bird to ensure that they keep up to date with the current disease situation.

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  • Avian Flu – Top Tips

    7th October 2019 by

    Although there is a constant risk of avian flu in the UK, with Autumn now here, there is an increased likelihood of avian influenza appearing. For those who aren’t aware, avian influenza (more commonly known as bird flu) is a highly contagious disease of birds. It can have serious impacts on bird health and welfare, and can potentially lead to bird fatalities. In extremely serious cases it can affect the health of humans and other mammals.

    So how can bird flu be introduced to the UK? The most common way is if birds come in to direct or indirect contact with wild birds. This can come from sharing water or coming in to contact with infected bird faeces. This applies to all birds, even ones kept as pets.

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  • This migration season, will we see avian flu return?

    14th November 2017 by

    Last winter Scotland was lucky. We had no reported cases of H5N8 avian flu in domestic flocks. The rest of the UK was not so lucky as the disease was confirmed at 13 premises whose flocks ranged in size from nine to 65,000 birds. Here two experts have their say on the importance of practising good biosecurity measures.

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