H5N1

[Guest]

Bruno

 

We've been treated to this already by a horror worse possible scenario show put out by the History Channel

 

 

A Plague on them!    Hyacinth. .  ;D

 

Like I said, before the event, much the same here, scare stories about pigeons, including from the better newspapers, like the Scotsman.  The same paper devoted 9 pages to Avian flu yesterday (Friday 7th April). On Pages 3/4 'It would be difficult for people to catch bird flu in the UK, even if they really tried hard' Professor John Oxford (whom you have seen recently in good TV programmes on AI) says:-

 

"Everyone will now be thinking of the robins in their garden, their cat or the pigeons in a railway station, but I don't think they need to worry. Pigeons are not at the moment considered to be carriers. Right now the focus is all on migrating water birds, ducks and possibly geese. Not sparrows, starlings, robins or pigeons. You dont get starlings mixing with swans... "

 

And for a second opinion, pages 2/3, Q&A : Q What should I do about pigeons?:-

 

"A Microbiologist Professor Hugh Pennington (Scotland, Food Standards Agency) says that residents should not worry about pigeons unless they were in very close proximity. He says: If they were nested in your front room and they were dying, I would be concerned. Other than that, I wouldn't worry."

 

At present, pigeons are unlikely carriers and pigeons simply flying close to people are not thought to be a risk. It is however wise to carry out basic hygiene procedures if in contact with pigeon droppings.

 

 

 

  

[Guest]

Sounds like some good thinking there Bruno

[peterpau]

If we were to stop racing your neighbours would be telling all and sundry we've had to stop racing 'cos we spread dissease. Let's just hope we can just keep going nice and steady

[Guest]

If we were to stop racing your neighbours would be telling all and sundry we've had to stop racing 'cos we spread dissease. Let's just hope we can just keep going nice and steady

 

 

Caught the TV news about 1715 tonight - can't recall ITN or BBC Scotland - but there was an unexpected racing pigeon clip, featuring I think, Duncan Ogilvie of Stirling Club, Scottish North West Fed. Briefly news item said that pigeon fanciers were worried about AI as pigeon racing season was about to start, and would we be able to race our birds ?

 

Ties in well with your post ... feature showed that like other bird keepers, pigeon fanciers and racing pigeons are innocent victims of the disease's presence here.