Mid Ulster: call for wider awareness over need to report wild bird deaths as Avian flu update requested
Dungannon Councillor, James Burton has called on Mid Ulster District Council to advertise more widely the need to report dead wild birds, in a bid to contain the recent outbreak of bird flu.
Speaking at Tuesday’s (February 12) Environment committee meeting of the local authority, the DUP representative commented: “Just something I’d like to raise in relation to the two outbreaks of bird flu within our district.
“I think it’s a worrying time for many farmers, I know I’m getting it on the ground. There’s a big investment involved in farming, and I’m just thinking of the many jobs that are on the line, especially in my own area of Dungannon.
“I know after the outbreak at Black Lough, signs were put up by the department to raise awareness to anybody using the park.
“I just would like to ask council, is that going to be [also done in] other areas, in our parks, say for instance Dungannon Park, Brantry Lough or whatever? Can I make a proposal maybe, to ask the department to put [signage] in our other loughs?”
Strategic director of Environment, Anne-Marie Campbell replied: “I’ll refer that to the Parks department and see what plans they have, and then I’ll come back to you.”
Cllr Deirdre Varsani (Sinn Féin, Dungannon DEA) suggested that councillors could play their part in spreading the message about reporting dead birds: “Just in relation to the bird flu outbreak that I understand was about five weeks ago at the Black Lough in Dungannon, I did check at that time in relation to what information was available from DAERA, and the council had put up on their own website in relation to reporting dead wild birds, to try and help surveillance of that.
“It may be that if each of the councillors would like to re-share that in each of their areas, that might be helpful as well.
“The poultry industry, in particular, have a serious ordeal on their hands. Anything we can do to support that would certainly be welcome, and I would be happy to second your proposal on that.”
Cllr Mark Robinson (DUP, Clogher Valley DEA) concurred with Cllr Burton: “Just to endorse what Cllr Burton has said. There’s no doubt it is a very worrying time for the poultry sector, and anything we can do as council to try and prevent the spread of bird flu, I think we should be trying to do it.”
Cllr James Burton remarked that a lot of money was at stake within the poultry industry: “Just off the back of that, I was taking a brief look through Facebook and maybe there’s a piece of work to be done, even with our own social media, to get it out there that it’s been the second outbreak now in our district, and I feel it is very important.
“There’s literally millions of pounds of investment on the line here, so maybe that’s something also we could look at.”
Committee chair, Cllr Niall McAleer (Sinn Féin, Torrent DEA) echoed Cllr Burton’s remark: “I’m sure the social media team can get something up on the relevant channels.”
Cllr John McNamee (Sinn Féin, Cookstown DEA) was keen to find out what the situation was like in Magherafelt: “In relation to the outbreak in Magherafelt, have we any updates on the extent of that? I know that in Black Lough there were a few birds, but it was very sketchy in relation to the Magherafelt outbreak.”
The strategic director of Environment indicated that she would update councillors on the bird flu situation.
François Vincent, Local Democracy Reporter