About fifteen storks from stork station De Lokkerij near de Wijk succumbed to bird flu in the past two weeks. Owner Frits Koopman fears more dead birds.
“On July 2, a stork flew into the station, it flopped on the ground and behaved very strangely. Then we immediately thought of bird flu”, Koopman looks back. It was a bird from the outside, without a ring.
Koopman: “That’s when it actually started. A few birds die every day. Yesterday I happened to have none, but four the day before yesterday.”
Dozens of birds fly in and out every day in the Lokkerij. It is no big surprise to Koopman that the virus would enter. “The flu had been around for much longer, in April storks with bird flu were already observed in the Betuwe. We knew that there was a risk. Animals had already been in trouble in Giethoorn, Hamingen and Wanneperveen. We hoped it would die out. .”
So it’s not that far. Koopman estimates that a total of around 25 storks have been killed by the virus in the vicinity of De Wijk, including 15 Lokkerij birds. He fears more victims. “If a bird has it, other animals will have it in a few days.”
There is no solution. Clearing is not possible, as is the case with chicken houses after an outbreak. Koopman: “Then you should also cull all geese and swans, storks are free-flying birds. We don’t have a zoo here where they are locked up. You can’t cull preventively.”
Everything that prevents possible spread of the virus is tried. The Drentse Fiets4Daagse was supposed to come by, but that has been cancelled. Owners Frits and Els themselves wear appropriate clothing and sick animals are set aside. “We hope that the measures we can still take will help prevent it from becoming a real catastrophe.”