Good afternooning all. It’s been a stressful couple of days. Shortly after the final whistle blew at Wembley, around 10.30pm, the rescue contacted all the volunteers saying it had had to close due to suspected cases of avian flu in one of the aviaries.
DEFRA (government department for environment, food and rural affairs) took control as soon as it was reported and imposed strict controls. Only those named on a list submitted to DEFRA allowed on site… just staff and baby bird feeders, not even the general volunteers.
Today’s shift started at 6:45am and the dress code was “festival chic”. Clothes you didn’t mind going in the bin as they could end up being burned (we had to take a change of clothes to go home in) and wellies as they could be disinfected.
Around 10am we got the call that the first tests had come back negative for avian flu; we still can’t reopen until the problem is diagnosed, but things are looking a lot more positive. If there had been a positive test, every bird at the rescue would have to be put to sleep… there are hundreds.
I did an awful lot of cleaning. The baby bird room has been scrubbed and disinfected top to bottom and in every nook and cranny.
I finally left at 1.30pm… a double shift and a bit. Home, mug of tea, shower, tennis and recovery! I am very tired.
DEFRA (government department for environment, food and rural affairs) took control as soon as it was reported and imposed strict controls. Only those named on a list submitted to DEFRA allowed on site… just staff and baby bird feeders, not even the general volunteers.
Today’s shift started at 6:45am and the dress code was “festival chic”. Clothes you didn’t mind going in the bin as they could end up being burned (we had to take a change of clothes to go home in) and wellies as they could be disinfected.
Around 10am we got the call that the first tests had come back negative for avian flu; we still can’t reopen until the problem is diagnosed, but things are looking a lot more positive. If there had been a positive test, every bird at the rescue would have to be put to sleep… there are hundreds.
I did an awful lot of cleaning. The baby bird room has been scrubbed and disinfected top to bottom and in every nook and cranny.
I finally left at 1.30pm… a double shift and a bit. Home, mug of tea, shower, tennis and recovery! I am very tired.
