People often seem to think that my warnings about cross-infection between AIV infected dead birds, foxes, otters and other mammals is all a bit of paranoia. Crossing from wildlife to humans due to close up feeding of foxes and coaxing foxes into the home -"not my fur babies!"
How long have I been waiting for this cross-over to foxes particularly? A long time. It is one of the reasons that I approached the APHA (journalists note: it is an acronym so like "nasa" should be written as "NASA" so the Animal Plant Health Advisory should be written "APHA" -get an education) to carry out post mortems on foxes that appeared to die unusually; my original theory was that this might be poisoning but more likely a disease of some kind and if it was the earlier it was caught to better.
Nine otters (yes, one of the reasons for my increased interest in dead otters in Bristol) have been found with AIV in the UK and one fox was found with AIV in Powys, Wales. A dead bird is an easy and free meal and so far I am waiting to hear back from DEFRA about reports of infected birds being deliberat6ely thrown to foxes.
Read what is written: at the moment this is not a major concern but it has that potential. Bird flu outbreak amongst foxes could see it potentially kill off many depending on the severity and with people (idiots) hand-feeding foxes and badgers (the risk of an accidental snap at food taking off a finger(s) is there and has happened in the past) and feeding continually on one spot is far likelier to cause the spread amongst the animals -this blog has given out advice before that you should never put food out on the same spot but move it around (I know that ruins the social media "Like" photos -tough) -also, wash out any feeding or water dish daily. Basic health precautions.
Foxes and badgers are wild animals and not your garden pets that you have habituated to humans (NOT a very sensible thing to do) and they should not be queuing up outside your back door at regular times for feeding. That in itself is so wrong and if you do this for your social media it is wrong. You are changing the behaviour of these mammals so that they get overweight, do not use their natural skills and do not hunt their usual foods and all of that is going to affect the future generations and I believe it is already showing a negative asp-ect in foxes.
There are the unhinged fox feeders who overfeed and whereas we see a lot of overweight domestic dogs we are now seeing overweight (no, not "well fed") foxes whi9ch means that their resistance to disease is lowered. Sensible feeders do so from a distance and do not attempt to habituate foxes. A fox recently grabbed or "attempted to bully" a child for its food: that gets labelled a "nuisance fox" and pest controllers get their money and any number of foxes are killed BECAUSE one was habituated.
Read this news item and don't just stick your fingers in your ears and say "Ting -a ling- a- loo...not happening".
Learn to respect wildlife and treat it as wildlife and that means do not be stupid and risk AIV jumping from infected fox to humans or other animals.
Bird flu spreads to foxes and otters
https://www.msn.com/en-gb/health/medical/bird-flu-spreads-to-foxes-and-otters/ar-AA171wYyfbclid=IwAR2KNY8XX45p0Uqy8ghePs2M1vsSOpAR6I8Hr6UOrV2FqDZaRrYO3RvwG9s
Bird flu has jumped to foxes and otters, scientists have revealed.
The Animal and Plant Health Agency (Apha) found nine otters and foxes were among 66 mammals positive for highly pathogenic avian influenza (HPAI) H5N1, with some seals also infected.
It is thought that they had fed on dead or sick wild birds infected with the virus and there was "a very low likelihood of any widespread infection in GB mammals", Apha said.
Around the world, the record outbreak of the disease led to the death of about 208 million birds with at least 200 recorded cases in mammals, according to figures seen by the BBC.
The UK Health Security Agency (UKHSA) said that "bird flu is primarily a disease of birds and the risk to the general public’s health is very low".
However, researchers worldwide are investigating the risk of other species becoming infected.
Professor Ian Brown, of Apha, told BBC Radio 4's programme, said scientists are "analysing the genetic code of the virus" to establish if bird flu, also known as avian flu, can pass from fox to fox or otter to otter.
"We've recently detected events both here in and around the world - evidence that this virus can on certain occasions jump into other species," he said.
"To be clear, though, this is still a bird virus essentially, that wants to be in birds."
There have been 279 cases of (HPAI) H5N1 in England since the H5N1 outbreak started in October 2021.
"These animals, these are wild mammals, animals that scavenge on sick and dead birds and there's a lot of dead wild birds at the moment due to the bird flu presence around the globe," Professor Brown said.
"What we don't have any evidence of is that it can then go from fox to fox or otter to otter, so these are what we call dead-end infections," he added.
But he agreed that there was no reason why the avian flu virus could not see mammals infecting mammals.
"We have to be watchful, which is why we're enhancing our surveillance in the UK to make sure that we can track and monitor for these changes, so Defra and the devolved administrations are supporting a programme for actively looking mammals that we believe might scavenge and feed on wild birds," he said.
Since October 2021, there have been five confirmed human cases of the H5N1 virus, including one in the UK, and one death, in China.
In the past 20 years, the World Health Organisation documented 870 human cases from 21 countries, 457 of which were fatal.
UK Government guidance says that poultry or most captive birds cannot be vaccinated against bird flu in England, but zoo birds can.
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