Bird flu found in dead seals on UK beach as public urged to stay away from animal corpses

17 comments
  1. Excerpt from the linked content^1 by Martha McHardy:

    >Bird flu has been found in the carcasses of five dead seals on a beach in Cornwall.

    >The Cornwall Wildlife Trust urged members of the public to stay away from all dead animals which wash up on beaches including seals, dolphins, porpoises, whales and sea birds. There has also been cases of Bird Flu in a dolphin in Devon, the Trust said on its website.

    >“The general public are advised against approaching and interacting with seals in the UK, even when the animals are in danger or distress,” a statement^2 from the trust said.

    >“Cornwall Wildlife Trust are also urging all members of the public to stay away from all dead animals, which wash into our beaches, including seals, dolphins, porpoises, whales and, of course, sea birds.”

    >Cornwall Wildlife Trust also urged members of the public to report all dead stranded animals to its hotline.

    ^1 Martha McHardy for The Independent, via AOL/Apollo Global Management, 17 Mar. 2023, https://www.aol.com/news/bird-flu-found-dead-seals-084920954.html

    ^2 *Avian Flu discovered in carcasses of five seals from Cornwall*, 16 Mar. 2023, https://www.cornwallwildlifetrust.org.uk/news/avian-flu-discovered-carcasses-five-seals-cornwall

  2. I washed my shoes at every farm during foot and mouth.

    I stopped buying eggs for bird flu.

    I carried tissues for swine flu.

    I wore a mask and stayed at home for covid.

    But if the government tries to take away our god given right to play with beached animal corpses, I will be first in the lines picketing Westminster. This is a step too far.

  3. Usually I go right up to animal corpses I find and put my mouth to theirs and blow into them. I guess I can’t do that any more.

  4. As someone who knows very little about viruses… How concerned should I be about bird flu no longer being exclusive to birds?

  5. Not a good development.

    We have already spent the best part of £200 incarcerating my daughters egg empire in a lockdown chicken prison (polytunnel) so the poor things are no longer free range in the hope that Bird flu would calm down a bit, and now there are increasing instances in Cornwall.

  6. Not a good development. It’s my understanding that the fear with avian bird flu is that it would mutate with something highly contagious like the common cold?

    If that happens then we would have a highly contagious disease with a high fatality rate.

  7. I live in Cornwall – actually saw a marine mammal recovery team out yesterday in Falmouth. Hadn’t seen any news and wondered what they were there for.

    Not a good development.

  8. Just a FYI, avian flu is pretty bad because it means lack of chicken eggs.

    Why is that bad?

    Chicken eggs are still used to produce a lot of vaccines and drugs..

  9. Probably due to sewage being dumped in the UK rivers that’s ending up on the shores… Just saying Tories changed the rules a year ago so water companies can dump sewage

  10. Do we really need to be urged to not play with dead animals? Anyone who does that deserves to get bird flu just for being a weirdo.

  11. This was literally the top item on the uk’s national risk register pre pandemic – a pandemic likely sourced from avian flu. Time to sell off our PPE stockpiles again!

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