Bird flu threatens German shorebirds

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Bird flu in England: rangers remove bird carcasses on the British island of Staples

Photo: Owen Humphreys / dpa

The rampant bird flu threatens the seabirds on Germany's coasts.

The Friedrich Loeffler Institute (FLI) on the island of Riems near Greifswald announced that thousands of birds died between May and July of this year in outbreaks in colonies on the North Sea and Baltic Sea coasts.

"Surviving chicks in the nests starved to death or also succumbed to the infection." Breeding colonies suffered a "life-threatening collapse."

The »Kieler Nachrichten« had previously reported .

According to FLI information, there were outbreaks in local colonies of cormorants, gulls, sandwiches and common terns for the first time during this period.

The coasts are particularly affected because the colonies are comparatively large here.

"We're seeing unusually high virus activity for the time of year."

There was a significant drop in the spring.

But the virus obviously continues to circulate in the summer.

According to information from the middle of the week, 14 federal states were affected.

According to this, in 2022 there were almost 1030 detections in wild birds and 36 reported outbreaks in holdings.

The "Kieler Nachrichten" quotes bird conservationists who report from Helgoland that half of all the gannet nests there have been abandoned.

Situation in England more threatening than it has been for 100 years

A devastating eruption also recently hit uninhabited islands in north-east England, which are considered one of Britain's most important nature reserves.

For about 100 years there has not been such a threatening situation for the seabird populations.

The FLI was initially unable to say whether it was the same subtype of the virus as on German coasts.

The FLI estimates that poultry farms on Germany's coasts are still at high risk.

The pathogen is highly contagious for poultry.

The FLI continues to recommend appropriate security measures.

In principle, infections in humans are possible, especially in the case of close contact.

So far, however, they have remained largely symptom-free in connection with the virus that is currently circulating.

mgo/dpa