Authorities are urging visitors and locals to avoid several areas within the Bergriver Municipality on the West Coast of South Africa following the suspected outbreak of Avian flu. Over 1500 dead birds were removed on Thursday.
Minister of Local Government, Environmental Affairs and Development Planning, Anton Bredell, responded to news of the outbreak saying it has affected wild seabirds in the Bergrivier Municipality on the West Coast, as well as the Walker Bay area in the Overberg.
All disaster nodes have been alerted and Bergrivier Municipality, both the Overberg and West Coast District Municipalities and CapeNature have already deployed teams of officials to collect the dead and sick birds.
There are also vets on scene helping the affected birds. Bredell urged people to avoid the area and in particular not to collect or touch sick or dead birds.
“It is critical to prevent the spread of the disease. This means people must not attempt to assist or transport any sick birds, even to take them to rehabilitation centres and veterinarians as this could spread the disease. It is critical to keep a controlled environment.”At the moment, Bergrivier Municipality remains the hotspot area with reports of dead birds from Velddrif to Arniston. Neighbouring municipalities have been alerted and urged to be cautious and to keep an eye out for potential spreading of the disease. There are additional hotspots on Dyer island and Robben Island which are receiving attention. The Western Cape Disaster Management Centre is currently doing an assessment to determine if the outbreak constitutes a disaster or not,“ he said.
The deaths are mostly occurring among cormorants which are an endangered species.
”The current virus strain was detected in wild birds in May 2021, mainly affecting gulls. The first cormorants were only diagnosed with the disease in mid-September and cases have increased rapidly over the past week,” said Bredell.
Sadly, Avian fly is incurable, cannot be prevented and is highly contagious.
“There is also currently no evidence that this virus poses any risk or threat to humans. However, humans can transmit the virus from sick birds to other birds if their clothes or hands gets contaminated. People are advised not to handle the birds at all unless it is absolutely unavoidable and in that instance to please use gloves and face masks.The Disaster Management Centre urges the public to be vigilant and report unusual mortalities in any birds to their local municipality, conservation authority or state veterinarian,” he said.
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