Bird flu fears at Dublin Zoo leave animals out of sight

Dublin Zoo has moved its entire bird collection indoors to avoid the latest threat from bird flu.

Following confirmation of Ireland's first case of the new H5N8 strain in Co Wexford, zoo officials decided to shelter its ostriches, penguins, flamingos and other exotic species in large "back of house facilities".

Some of the birds will be unavailable to visitors for an indefinite period.

It follows a direction from the Department of Agriculture to poultry owners to keep their flocks indoors in a bid to reduce any outbreak of the disease.

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The new strain, which has been detected in several European countries, poses a very low risk to humans.

Birds relocated inside include eight ostriches, 16 humboldt penguins, 25 waldrapp ibis, five common peafowl, two macaws, a breeding group of 82 Chilean flamingos and a number of chickens and ducks from the Family Farm.

"Dublin Zoo takes all bird flu directives from the Department of Agriculture, Food and the Marine. As soon as Dublin Zoo was notified at the end of December, they began implementing their contingency plan," it said in a statement.

Not unusual

Zoo director Leo Oosterweghel said birds in captivity would have contact with those outside and such a contingency move is not unusual.

“This is about protecting our collection. We don’t want them to get sick, it’s important,” he told The Irish Times.

"It's not an uncommon protection. Continental Europe, I am familiar with what's happening there, and zoos will put their collection birds indoors to stop direct contact with outside birds. Our birds are out in the open and wild birds fly across and there is contact."

On Monday, the Department of Agriculture confirmed the strain of bird flu found in Co Wexford last month is the same as that discovered in the UK and across Europe.

The avian influenza subtype H5N8 was found in a wild duck on December 28th and identified as being the same “highly pathogenic strain that has previously been confirmed in the UK and mainland Europe”.