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Michaela Muscat
A ban on hunting is not being excluded by the Ministry of Rural Affairs and the Environment if it is possible a ban would prevent infected birds with the deadly avian flu from reaching Malta’s shores, a ministry spokesperson told MaltaToday.
The H5N1 virus, the dangerous strain of the avian flu that can be transmitted from birds to humans, has been defected in Romanian and Turkish villages and has been the cause of the slaughter of thousands of birds – mainly chickens.
However, Malta government veterinary officer Mirielle Vella is standing by a previous statement she made to MaltaToday, claiming the veterinary authorities were excluding the confinement of free-range birds such as chicken, turkeys, ducks and geese on the premise that the measures taken are motivated more by the “high cost and impact of eventual spread of disease rather than the actual risk of the outbreak.”
Vella also said “the European Commission’s decisions are to Malta’s advantage as our poultry is inside.”
Joe Mangion, the president of BirdLife Malta, explained the origin of the viral disease: “the outbreak started from poultry farms and not wild birds. So we should not be too alarmist and go on a wild bird rampage as ironically the highest contamination risk happens when birds are killed.”
The environment ministry’s spokesperson has confirmed that the moment when birds are killed is the most dangerous. Leaflets are also being sent to every hunter to highlight the importance of removing every trace of the birds they kill. “A person can get contaminated through contact with blood, saliva or inhalation of the birds’ breath so we are insisting on the importance of hygiene such as the washing of hands.”
Joe Mangion also said it was important to monitor all of the ducks and geese found across Malta in bays like Spinola as they easily could come into contact with wild birds migrating back from Africa.
An expert who spoke to this newspaper on condition of anonymity said “the International Waterfowl Research Bureau is studying the possibility of birds which migrate from Europe to Africa and so run the risk of mixing with ill birds coming from East Europe, Russia and Asia and would end up carrying the disease when migrating back to Europe in spring.”
However the researchers are not even sure if a diseased bird would in fact be able to travel hundreds of miles, as the disease is still “obscure”. Mangion concurs with the expert and says: “a bird has to be 100 per cent fit in order to migrate, so a bird carrying the virus might not survive. But the truth is that there is always the risk.”
Mangion also says the birds which are most likely carrying the avian flu are waterfowl such as ducks and geese: “they fly over Malta but the majority don’t tend to stop. Probably only two flocks would actually set foot in Malta so most contact would be made when they are killed.”
The environment ministry is working according to EU directives and guidelines and analysing the situation “to be able to take the best decisions,” a spokesperson said, “so nothing is excluded.”
mmuscat@mediatoday.com.mt
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