The Netherlands turns red in the Bird Flu Radar

In total, 460 dead waterfowl were reported via the input portals of the Dutch Wildlife Health Centre and Sovon in October and November, including 89 wigeons, 67 herring gulls, 63 woodcocks, 42 shelducks, 34 black-headed gulls, 32 teals and 25 barnacle geese. This meant an increase in the number of reports compared to previous months, but compared to the same period in 2021, 2022 and 2023 it was relatively quiet. At that time, 908, 697 and 877 dead waterfowl were reported respectively. On 18 November, bird flu was detected at an organic laying hen farm in Putten and at about the same time there was also an outbreak at a farm just across the border near Kleve in Germany. Sick barnacle geese were also found on 23 November and 28 November at Stedum in Groningen and near Marrum in Friesland, which subsequently tested positive for a highly pathogenic variant of bird flu. An increasing number of cases of bird flu were also detected elsewhere in Europe, both in captive and wild birds. In ...