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Bird flu' anger as dead swan is
left to rot by officials
Jo Rostron
Columnist,Yorkshire Evening Post
http://www.leedstoday.net/ViewArticle2.aspx?SectionID=39&ArticleID=1446116
Filed 17 Apr 06
This article is reproduced
from the Yorkshire Post of 15th April 2006
with permission
A LEEDS walker was left stunned after reporting
a dead swan to Defra only to be told:
"We can't get it because we don't
have specialist equipment."
The decaying bird was found near a path
along the River Aire at Methley by Steven Lewis. He told the YEP:
"I was so shocked that in the current
climate, where there's all this anxiety about bird flu, Defra
told me they knew about this dead swan but they could not retrieve
it.
"It had obviously been there a while
and I was standing right over it so I don't know why they said
they needed specialist equipment."
A spokesman for Defra said dead birds are
sometimes left longer for health and safety reasons.
Mr Lewis, 48, of Rothwell was walking his
dog along the riverside path when he came across the carcass on
Sunday.
"My dog had shot off and wouldn't come
back so I had to go down and find what it was doing.
"I was stood over this swan, I dragged
my dog off and if I was of that mindset, I could have got a bag
and dealt with it straight away. So I was amazed when Defra said
they could not do anything about it.
"The woman I spoke to said 'we have
not got specialist equipment so we cannot retrieve it for health
and safety'. I couldn't understand it!"
A Defra spokesman said that out of 3,000
birds tested since October, across the UK, only one has tested positive
for bird flu.
"We do ask everyone to report suspicious
bird deaths. If occasionally a bird is left longer than normal
it would be due to the fact of health and safety because obviously
we need to make sure it's safe for staff to pick it up especially
if it's in a difficult position and they will need to get specialist
equipment to do that."
The spokesman said they did not comment
on individual cases.
©Jo Rostron
Further reading recommended by Land-Care
 Irvine,
James (2006). Serious concerns about how DEFRA organised the collection
of samples for Avian Flu testing.
See ANIMAL HEALTH - GENERAL - Homepage, filed14 Apr 06,
www.land-care.org.uk Click
Here to View
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