Rescue not taking seagulls amid bird flu fears

A wildlife rescue said it was not accepting seagulls with unknown illnesses into its care after a "sudden increase" in birds displaying "concerning symptoms".

Cleethorpes Wildlife Rescue said it was directing any cases of ill gulls to the RSPCA to avoid an avian flu outbreak, which would lead to all of its birds being culled.

Lincolnshire is currently part of a "Mandatory Housing Avian Influenza Prevention Zone", where bird keepers must house their flocks to protect them from an outbreak.

Cleethorpes Wildlife Rescue said it was "assessing each seabird prior to arrival".

In a social media post on Friday, Cleethorpes Wildlife Rescue said it was "temporarily unable to accept gulls into our rescue if they have unknown illnesses."

It said it had seen a "sudden increase in gulls displaying similar concerning symptoms" and it "cannot rule out avian influenza".

"Please remember that we are a small, volunteer-run organisation doing our best with limited resources and we cannot risk the lives of the birds we have in", it added.

Aaron Goss, lead rescuer at Cleethorpes Wildlife Rescue, said: "We don't want to scare the public by making it too much of a situation but, for now, we are continuing to admit other birds and are assessing each seabird prior to arrival."

The Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs (Defra) said the first case of the current outbreak of highly pathogenic avian influenza (HPAI) in England was confirmed on 5 November last year.

Since then, 2.3m poultry or other captive birds have died on HPAI infected premises or are in the process of being culled and disposed of for HPAI disease control purposes.

A spokesperson for Defra said: "Whilst the current avian influenza outbreak has caused significant impacts on the poultry industry, particularly international trade, there has been minimal impact to consumers' food supply."

It advised the public not to touch or pick up any dead birds and to wash hands thoroughly after coming into contact with wild bird faeces or feathers, or after feeding wild birds.

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