Bird Flu back to ruffle feathers (but mainly kill birds)

When most people hear the word 'comeback', they tend to think of some desperate 80's pop singer prancing about on I'm A Celebrity, Get Me Out Of Here with trowel-applied makeup and a searing blaze of loneliness in their sad eyes.

They tend not to think of farms in rural Oxfordshire, which is where - as of this very evening - another major public spectre has reasserted its grip on the national consciousness. Mr Bird Flu is back, ladies and gentleman, and he's gathered a major captive audience in the shape of the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs.

There's no need for undue alarm, however (despite the frenzied apocalypse-beckoning that the tabloids will be reeling out over the next few days). This is the relatively bird-specific H7 strain of the virus, not the shifty little H5 bastard who loves nothing more than leaping the food chain chasm and infecting the nearest poor human.

All of which must come as scant consolation to the chickens at the epicentre of the storm. The birds on the Banbury-based farm are now due to be slaughtered wholesale, which - seeing as they were all going to be killed sooner or later anyway - must really have messed up the Grim Reaper's schedule. Assuming the Grim Reaper actually bothers to deal with chickens and doesn't just send the spotty work experience intern instead.

We'll leave the final word of advice to Chief Veterinary Officer Nigel Gibbens:

"I would stress the need for poultry keepers to be extremely vigilant, practise the highest levels of biosecurity and report any suspicions of disease to their local animal health office immediately."

There you go, poultry keepers. Some handy tips. Now stop saying we don't do anything for you ...

Written by C J Davies on 3 Jun 2008 9:48 PM. Permalink