Pairi Daiza reports that four pelicans have contracted bird flu and have died. The most likely cause of the spread is the presence of wild birds (geese) that enjoy the park and use it as a resting place. No symptoms have been noted in other bird species for the time being.
The infection was caused by the highly pathogenic variant of the virus, which is contagious and deadly to all birds, but poses no risk to humans.
Because these are endangered birds that are protected, European legislation provides that the animals must not be culled. To protect the other bird species in and around the park, all birds are isolated in buildings and aviaries.
All places with birds are therefore no longer accessible to visitors. The rest of the park will remain open. The Federal Agency for the Safety of the Food Chain (FAVV) and the animal park will monitor the situation closely in the coming weeks, it still sounds.
Since mid-September, sixteen outbreaks of highly pathogenic avian influenza of type H5 have been confirmed in commercial poultry farms and private keepers. In that period, infected wild birds were also found at forty sites across the country.
The risk that poultry and other kept birds are infected with bird flu through contact with wild birds is therefore very high everywhere in the country, warns the FASFC.