H5N1 virus was detected in five dead wild birds. The Freising district office recommends poultry farmers to bring their animals into the barn now and to prepare for the obligation to do so.
Further cases of avian influenza (HPAI) – also known as bird flu – have occurred in the Freising district. This is reported by the district office. After a peregrine falcon from the Moosburg urban area had already tested positive for H5N1, the national reference laboratory at the Friedrich Loeffler Institute has now detected the pathogen in five wild birds (four swans, one blesralle) that were recovered dead from the compensation pond in the Wang municipality were. According to the veterinary office, another eleven dead swans from the compensation pond are currently being examined, and further H5N1 evidence is expected.
The district office recommends poultry farmers to bring all animals into the barn
The district office is therefore already recommending all poultry farmers in the Freising district to bring their animals into the barn. The possibility of compulsory stables within a radius of around three kilometers around the compensation pond in Wang is being examined. Poultry farmers in the area mentioned should therefore immediately prepare for housing their poultry in accordance with animal welfare.
In order to prevent the bird flu from spreading further and to protect domestic and farm poultry in particular, the district office is also advising all poultry farmers to strictly adhere to the increased biosecurity measures already ordered on December 2nd, 2022 for the entire Freising district. These included a ban on poultry exhibitions and a ban on feeding certain wild birds. Only by consistently changing clothes and shoes, cleaning and disinfecting measures, securing against unauthorized entry into the holdings and preventing contact between domestic poultry and wild birds can the introduction of the pathogen and the resulting measures (e.g. killing the stock, compulsory stables) be prevented. All poultry farmers, including hobby farmers, are obliged to consistently comply with these hygiene and biosecurity measures.
In principle, H5N1 is considered potentially dangerous for humans, but infections are extremely rare. The Freising district office asks all citizens to report dead birds to the Freising veterinary office, the respective municipality or the police, stating the location (ideally including coordinates). The dead birds should not be touched or moved.
The general decree is on the homepage of the district office at https://www.kreis-freising.de/fileadmin/user_upload/Aemter/Buero_des_Landrats/Amtsblatt/2022/27.pdf to find.