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Bird Flu In Wimbledon Park 26 October 2022

I suggest you keep dogs away from the lake, any dead birds / fowl that may have been carried into bushes and the wood by foxes and avoid any goose poo on the field.


From Dr. David Dawson - an Environmental Scientist advising Friends of Wimbledon Park, 26-28 October 2022:


We have bird flu at Wimbledon park lake as evidenced by dead cygnet, Egyptian goose and Canada goose in recent days as well as four cygnets going missing recently.I've reported this to DEFRA as advised on their website and find the attached notice advised for display where the flu is found in public places.—Unfortunately the geese and Wood pigeons often feed out on the Great Field in the morning before the first dog walkers send them off. Less of a problem at this time of year when the park is opened before dawn, but goose, pigeon and gull droppings can occur there. The risk is very small, but not zero.


Mass feeding of the wildfowl is not advised anyhow, as uneaten food harms lake water quality and attracts rats. Whilst it would be good to deter all feeding, because the birds should be taking natural foods, which are better for them, the great advantage of introducing kids to nature cannot be ignored.Whilst the advice is that bird flu is low risk, there remains the small risk that intimate contact with birds leads to infection of people. So, the advice on the poster should be followed. Some may dismiss this as "nanny state" yet again, but such ignorance should be ignored!A considerably greater risk is that the disease will jump the species barrier and become transmissible within a mammal species, or us. Minimising the exposure of all mammal species to infected birds is advised, if almost impossible to achieve in practice. That risk is real, but not yet evident.


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