In recent news, Wetheriggs Animal Rescue Centre at Greta Bridge, County Durham, was told it will have to cull all of its 400 birds, including the macaws, parakeets, and finches, after volunteers found several dead or dying chickens and Guinea fowl. Defra was immediately informed, and two vets arrived the same day to perform post-mortems and conduct tests. These tests confirmed that the birds had contracted the highly contagious virus, which is thought to have come from wild bird droppings.

This has led to several calls relating to pigeon fanciers who may also own a few chickens near their lofts, and there is a real risk that these lofts are vulnerable if they do not house their poultry undercover and follow strict biosecurity measures. It is very sad that those parrots and parakeets had to also be culled, considering they were hand reared and have a very long lifespan, but it does indicate the seriousness with which Defra take their efforts to control the spread of the disease.

We can all empathise with those volunteers, with one saying “I woke up this morning and thought ‘that was a bad dream’ but then realised it wasn’t a dream”. We as pigeon fanciers should pay attention, so I have taken the following information from the government website, which highlights what would happen if a notifiable disease were identified at the same location as your lofts. PMV vaccination is key, and now is the time to do it if you have not yet done so this year. I have no intention of scaremongering, but we need to fully understand the severity of the situation in the country right now. Those who say “pigeons cannot get it” need to wake up and get serious, viruses change and so should our attitude towards it, I cannot stress the importance of strict biosecurity measures enough, especially to those who fly on an allotment or keep a few chickens.

What do I do if I think my birds might have bird flu or pigeon paramyxovirus? Both bird flu (avian influenza) or Newcastle disease (paramyxovirus in pigeons) are a notifiable animal disease in all poultry and captive birds, including racing pigeons. If you suspect either of these diseases in your birds, you must report it immediately to the APHA by calling the Defra Rural Services Helpline on 03000 200 301. In Wales, contact 0300 303 8268. In Scotland, contact your local Field Services Office. Failure to do so is an offence.

What happens once I’ve reported suspected disease in my birds? A government vet will visit your loft and wherever the sick birds are. They will look at the birds and, if necessary, take samples (usually swabs) and serve restrictions on your loft. If the bird has died, then they will likely undertake a post-mortem to look for clinical signs of notifiable avian disease. Samples will be tested at the national reference lab for bird flu and Newcastle disease. These tests look for the viruses causing the diseases and for antibodies to these viruses, to see if your birds currently have, or have had, the viruses.

What happens if bird flu is confirmed? If bird flu is confirmed in your birds, then unfortunately your birds will be culled to stop any spread of the disease. You will be compensated for the healthy birds that are culled and will also be required to either leave your loft empty for 12 months or cleanse and disinfect your loft, any equipment and vehicles that have come into contact with your birds. You will also be asked for your records of the races/shows/sales, etc your birds have attended recently and details of any people that have visited your loft. This is so that the potential source and spread of the virus can be sought.

Someone has bird flu near to my loft, what happens now? Disease control zones will be put in place surrounding the premises to prevent further disease spread. Some premises in the zones will receive a visit from a government vet to inspect the birds and provide reassurance that they are fit and healthy. Sampling of some birds from a small proportion of premises is also required as part of surveillance within the zones. These disease control and surveillance activities are essential to allowing the zones to be lifted and normal activity for bird keepers to resume within the zone.

Will my birds be culled if bird flu is nearby? There is no automatic culling policy for avian influenza or Newcastle disease outbreaks in GB. Birds will only be culled if: Avian influenza or Newcastle disease is confirmed in your flock following official lab testing of samples; or a veterinary risk assessment indicates that there is a strong likelihood that a premises keeping birds has significant links to an infected premises where disease has already been confirmed. These links could be via movements of birds, poultry products, people, equipment, or vehicles between the two premises. Sampling and testing would also be used.

How can I keep my birds safe? For the health and welfare of your birds, you can help prevent the disease by vaccinating your pigeons against Newcastle Disease, which is mandatory if you want to participate in shows, sales, domestic or cross-channel racing, and by practising strict biosecurity measures on your premises. These can be found on the RPRA website, but basically foot baths with an approved disinfectant, keeping wild birds and poultry away from your lofts, quarantine any newly acquired stock and keep records of any visitors to your loft, and if you can demonstrate good biosecurity with no cross contamination, your birds will be monitored but safe in the event of a nearby outbreak. 

Chris Sutton
CEO

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While a nationwide mandatory housing order came into effect on 7th November, there are specific rules which relate to racing pigeons.

A keeper of racing pigeons may: 

• Let their birds out briefly for up to an hour, before feeding each day, to meet the birds’ welfare requirements. Lofts must not be left open for several hours, for the birds to come and go as they please. Contact between the racing pigeons, either directly or indirectly with wild birds must be minimised wherever possible.
• Pigeons from the same loft may also be transported to a point some distance from the home loft and released/liberated and allowed to return to the loft as part of a training and conditioning programme. The vehicle and baskets must be cleansed and disinfected using a government approved disinfectant.
• Provided the gathering is registered with APHA and the conditions of the General Licence are complied with, pigeon racing and multi-loft training are permitted whilst the AIPZ is in force. Birds may be basketed, marked and transported to a liberation site and released to fly back to their home loft. The transporter and baskets must be cleansed and disinfected using a government approved disinfectant.
• Pigeons, doves and other Columbiformes may be transported to another location and released to fly free at functions and events, provided the birds are either gathered again and returned to their home premises as soon as practical, or they fly to return to their home premises. Care should be taken to avoid locations where there are large numbers of wild birds or domestic poultry. Events where birds from more than one premises are present is a bird gathering and must be registered with APHA and meet the conditions of the General Licence for Bird Gatherings.

See this advice on the gov.uk website.

Movement of pigeons into and out of the 3km Protection Zones and 10km Surveillance Zones are still subject to a general licence application. You can apply for licences for some low-risk movements from any Protection Zone or Surveillance Zones currently in force.

Licences for the movement within or from the Captive Bird Monitoring Controlled Zones currently in force are not required.

Specific licences

Specific licences cover a movement or activity in a disease control zone when not covered by a general licence. A specific licence will normally allow a one-off movement and will be subject to strict conditions based on disease control risk. To apply for a specific licence, use the Avian Influenza Licensing Service (AILS) to submit your application online.

Chris Sutton
CEO RPRA

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02/11/22: Risk Levels

• The risk of incursion of highly pathogenic (HPAI) avian influenza H5 in wild birds in Great Britain has increased from high (i.e. event occurs very often) to very high (i.e. event occurs almost certainly).
• The risk of poultry exposure to HPAI H5 in Great Britain is remains assessed as high (with low uncertainty) where there are substantial biosecurity breaches and poor biosecurity and medium (i.e. event occurs regularly) (with high uncertainty) where good biosecurity is applied.
• The latest risk and outbreak assessments by Defra and the Animal and Plant Health Agency (APHA) are published and available on GOV.UK at https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/avian-influenza-bird-flu-in-europe  

Mandatory Housing Measures

Mandatory housing measures for all poultry and captive birds are to be introduced to all areas of England from 00:01 on Monday 7 November, following a decision by the United Kingdom’s Chief Veterinary Officer. The housing measures legally require all bird keepers to keep their birds indoors and to follow stringent biosecurity measures to help protect their flocks from the disease, regardless of type or size. This will extend the mandatory housing measures already in force in the hot spot area of Suffolk, Norfolk and parts of Essex to the whole of England. 

In a Protection Zone, a Captive Bird (Monitoring) Controlled Zone or in the national Avian Influenza Prevention Zone now covering the whole of England, where there is mandatory housing, racing pigeons can be flown out for up to 1 hour before feeding each day, to meet the birds’ welfare requirements. Lofts must not be left open for the pigeons to come and go as they please. Contact between racing pigeons and wild birds, either directly or indirectly, must be minimised wherever possible. 

No movement of racing pigeons within, into or out of a Protection Zone or Surveillance Zone is allowed without a licence. This includes new birds moving to a loft permanently, or temporarily, or birds moving from a loft in a zone permanently or temporarily, e.g. on loan/sold to another fancier. No pigeons kept in a protection, surveillance or captive bird monitoring and control zone can attend any shows, sales, exhibitions, auctions, or other bird gathering without a licence. 

It is our strict observations of these instructions which has allowed us the freedom to race our pigeons outside of control zones this past season, so I would implore you all to continue with the compliance and keep abreast of the situation. For the latest on your loft location please make regular visits to the APHA Interactive Avian Influenza Disease Map. 

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24/10/22: Avian Flu Considerations

One of the main issues for fanciers caught up in a restriction zone during the racing season is not knowing how long those restrictions are likely to be in place. Many are left in the dark, and obviously if an area is closed for training and racing in April for a few weeks, it can severely affect the whole season for those fanciers because once they are able to race, their birds would not be at the same fitness level as their competitors.

I asked Defra and our main vet as to how long one could expect the restrictions to be in place from day one and received a mixed reply, from 6 weeks as a guess, to it depends on if there is a cluster of outbreaks in the area. If an outbreak occurs which requires the 3km Protection Zone and 10km Surveillance Zone, the owner of the premises will be required to completely disinfect the whole area before the observation period can begin, with the shortest time in the last year being 30 days to the lifting of restrictions. If other outbreaks occur in the same area, they are all dependant on the last outbreak being completely disinfected, which has a knock-on effect in timing, with the longest restriction time for an area in the last year being 111 days.

These two incidents which I have quoted are the shortest and the longest recorded for the last twelve months, but the mean average over all outbreaks in the last year is 71 days, which of course is 10 weeks.

These figures have been provided to me by our main vet, David Parsons, who also went on to show that since 1947 there have been other such avian notifiable disease outbreaks which have impacted our racing pigeon sport, all of which held their peak numbers over a 5 year period. 

David said: “It started with Newcastle disease in 1947, when thousands of outbreaks occurred over 28 years before effective vaccines were developed.  That then mutated to pigeon paramyxovirus, which was brought in around 1983 and took about 10 years to bring under control. This was quicker because the chicken vaccine against Newcastle disease protected pigeons against pigeon paramyxovirus. Politically it is of less interest because it can be distinguished from Newcastle disease of poultry, and neither generally cause significant human infections. 

“The good news is that we are now better prepared to deal with diseases that are this nasty. A significant difference is that avian influenza could mutate and become more infectious for people, at which point you will realise that Covid-19 was just a minor irritation. The optimist in me suggests that we may be able to bring this under control quicker than previous disease outbreaks, but realistically we could be looking at around 5 years. With luck this will be in localised areas from March 2023 onwards, and during the racing season most of us can carry on as normal, but losses should be expected to be higher due to lack of training. With that in mind, you should also be prepared to find that marking stations may get caught up in Protection and Surveillance zones, and as bird gatherings are not permitted in these areas, alternative marking stations more than 10km away from the current station would need to be sourced”.

Chris Sutton
CEO

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18/10/22: As we have moved into the winter bird migration period, there have been many outbreaks of Avian Influenza within the British Isles. We will be providing weekly updates on the ongoing situation and how you can track any restrictions within your area. As of 12 noon on the 17th October 2022 the whole of England has been placed under heightened biosecurity measures, as authorised by the Secretary of State, and although it has been recognised that racing pigeons are a low risk category, we are all required to follow these instructions. 

Firstly, in the general England-wide Avian Influenza Prevention Zone you should be vigilant and follow all biosecurity measures; movement of birds is allowed in this zone, but only if strict biosecurity measures are observed and records kept.

In a Protection Zone, a Captive Bird (Monitoring) Controlled Zone or in the regional Avian Influenza Prevention Zone in Norfolk, Suffolk and parts of Essex where there is mandatory housing, birds can be flown out for up to 1 hour before feeding each day to meet birds’ welfare requirements.  Lofts must not be left open for the birds to come and go as they please. Contact between racing pigeons and wild birds, either directly or indirectly, must be minimised wherever possible.

Outside of a Protection Zone, Captive Bird Monitoring Control Zone or the regional Avian Influenza Prevention Zone in Norfolk, Suffolk and parts of Essex, birds can be flown out as usual whilst following the biosecurity requirements in the England-wide Avian Influenza Prevention Zone.

No movement of racing pigeons within, into or out of a Protection Zone or Surveillance Zone is allowed without a licence. This includes new birds moving to a loft permanently, or temporarily, or birds moving from a loft in a zone permanently or temporarily, e.g. on loan/sold to another fancier. No pigeons kept in a protection, surveillance or captive bird monitoring and control zone can attend any shows, sales, exhibitions, auctions, or other bird gathering.

It is our strict observations of these instructions which has allowed us the freedom to race our pigeons outside of control zones this past season, so I would implore you all to continue with the compliance and keep abreast of the situation. For the latest on your loft location please make regular visits to the APHA Interactive Avian Influenza Disease Map.

Chris Sutton
CEO RPRA