 If any dead wild-fowl bird is found... inform the authorities |
Wales' chief vet says that Wales and the rest of the UK is better equipped to cope with the threat of avian flu than it was a year ago.
Christianne Glossop says that valuable lessons were learned by authorities in dealing with the case of a swan infected with the H5N1 strain of the avian flu virus in Scotland last April.
But... she says that everyone must continue to be vigilant in checking for avian influenza across the country - but added that the likelihood of a wild bird that is found dead being infected with avian influenza is very small.
This week, the Welsh Assembly Government along with Defra and other devolved institutions announced an updated strategy for screening wild birds in the UK for the presence of the highly pathogenic H5N1 avian influenza virus.
The chief vet said that a targeted surveillance strategy will involve sampling for the disease in areas which have higher numbers of migrating waterfowl and larger poultry populations - in Wales those areas are Torfaen, Wrexham and Anglesey.
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 Many species of water-fowl are at risk |
Speaking to the Politics Show, Dr Glossop said: "One of the most important aspects of infectious disease control is to find information as soon as possible.
"One of the ways we will find an infected bird is if someone sees a dead bird on a country walk or in their garden and they report it to the helpline - which is 08459 33 55 77.
"We're targeting and focusing surveillance this year so not every single wild bird that's picked up will necessarily be tested."
Visiting the Newport Wetlands Centre this week the director of the RSPB in Wales, Dr Tim Stowe, explained which wild birds would be migrating there for the winter.
"There will be several thousands of Widgeon, which is a duck that comes here in the winter from Siberia, tens of thousands of birds like Dunlin which come from Siberia.
"Theses birds will spend the winter here and mix with birds already resident here� we suspect very few of them pose any risk of getting avian influenza," said Dr Stowe.
The chief vet agrees with that assertion, but although the risk is low it has not gone away.
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