In a recent press statement, SACS Director, Ian Clark, assured his members and all sporting shooters in the Province that while this disease is potentially very dangerous, there is absolutely no reason to panic at this stage.

 He said “There is nothing we in the British Isles can do to prevent the virus from coming here.  It will depend almost entirely on migratory bird patterns.  If the virus arrives in this country in its present form, the most urgent and immediate implications would be for commercial poultry keepers and those who have collections of captive birds.  Even if the virus did manage to get into our game birds or the wildfowl population here, the danger to human health is still relatively small.  Eating what you have shot would not be dangerous, even if the bird were infected, because cooking would kill the virus”

 Mr Clark explained that the danger would lie in handling infected birds, as the virus is in the body fluids of the bird.  This would include the obvious ones such as blood, mucous and internal fluids, but can also include the bird’s droppings.  “To be safe,” he went on to say, “one must assume that contamination may be all over the carcass of infected birds, inside and out and to handle them accordingly.”

 With over 3,000 members of the Scottish Association for Countrysports residing in Northern Ireland and more that 1,000 of those engaged in wildfowling on the country’s major loughs and waterways, SACS are encouraging wildfowlers particularly to examine any birds they shoot during the season and, if they suspect there may be a problem with the bird, to bag and label it with the location and date it was shot, and then contact the Department of Agriculture’s Veterinary Service or their local Veterinary Surgeon.  The tell-tale signs would include the weight of shot birds, whether their breast bone was protruding more than normal and if there were signs of discharge at the mouth or around the anal feathers

 Shooters are encouraged to be vigilant and if they discover a group of birds, especially waterfowl, showing signs of illness, once again report this to either a Veterinary Surgeon or to the police as a matter of urgency