For many people I have spoken to, much like the whole Covid thing, Avian Flu seems to slowly be disappearing from the media giving a perception that it, as a disease, is going away.
Unfortunately this is definitely not the case.
Since the beginning of February 2023 the Animal and Plant Health Agency (APHA) have had positive tests on 5 foxes and 4 otters for (HPAI) H5N1 – The sexy term for Avian Influenza.
Originally known as purely an Avian disease it is now thought to have jumped species due to the Foxes and Otters either consuming dead, infected birds or their droppings.
Since the beginning of the testing phase in October 2021 there have been 270 confirmed cases of Bird Flu in wild and domestic stock species and it has been feared in the pest control industry that if it does indeed spread cross-species then it could spell disaster for our native wildlife.
In my opinion Rats have been obvious culprits of a cross-species jump due to the living conditions, location around natural and artificial water sources and their capability of finding nutrition in anything so the feathers and droppings would be a standard menu choice.
At the time of writing this post there have been no confirmed rodent cases however, and this is a big one… dead rodents are a regular food source for many other species including carrion feeders, foxes, otters, badgers and the list goes on…
Why do you think that years after the introduction of stricter measures on rodenticides across the UK, trace rodenticides are prevalent in Carrion feeding birds such as our majestic owl?
My point is that although Rodents haven’t yet been shown as the cause, I would roll the dice on them forming part of it.
A perfect way to articulate my point is think of the mercury levels in Tuna, do Tuna spend their time swimming around sucking up every piece of hard metal they can find? Probably not, but what is happening is the bottom feeding smaller fish are consuming the metal from the sea bed, then a larger fish eats them and a larger fish eats them and so on and so forth until our pal the tuna finds a nice tasty fish supper and the bioaccumulative effect of all of those smaller species having a trace amount of mercury all of sudden adds up.
Now you see my point about the rodents and the Avian Flu.
So what’s the answer in all of this? I have no magic wand, but the only things as a profession pest controller I can suggest is keeping your domestic birds with restricted access to wildlife, keeping your chickens in free running pens etc but with a mesh roof and here’s another thing I don’t think many people have though of, stopping birds having access to your loft….
Yep, I know its a long shot but lets say you allow the starlings back this year again to nest in your soffits and fascia boards, apart from the noise keeping you awake remember the environment they share. How many times have you been told by a friend or college at work that Mrs so and so has Rats or Mice in the loft? With the cohabitation in that environment there is a chance of a cross species jump again.
Food for thought.
Anyway the ramblings of a Rat man are over for another week.
DJ
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