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S.O.S. OPERATIONS AFFECTED BY THE REGIONAL OUTBREAK OF BIRD FLU

December 2024. As you may know, there have been regrettable outbreaks of the highly pathogenic Avian Influenza H5N1 (bird flu) disease in poultry farms throughout Norfolk & Suffolk just recently, where stocks have contracted the disease that occurs naturally among wild aquatic birds and can lead to the infection of domestic poultry.

VISITOR SAFETY
The risk of Avian Influenza to humans is very low and is usually the result of close contact with an infected wild bird. To ensure the safety of visitors to the Sanctuary and free from any possible exposure to bird flu, we operate a strict code of aviary & enclosure cleanliness and bird health vigilance to protect our captive-bred bird collection from the disease, and PPE to protect our bird handlers and volunteers from the unlikely event of exposure. Visitors are asked to please use the foot-dips placed at all entrances to the centre to disinfect their footwear and prevent unwitting transmission of the disease to our collection of captive-bred birds.

• OUR RAPTOR HOSPITAL REMAINS OPEN *
  Our raptor hospital is open to treat and rehabilitate new admissions of injured, sick, or otherwise traumatised owls and other birds of prey.

In order to do this we have strict quarantine protocols in place at the centre and for the staff who assist in the hospital. These include a separate triage reception area for the isolated examination of all bird intakes as we cannot risk any wild bird with Avian Influenza being brought into the centre itself which could contaminate all of our other birds.

SHOULD YOU FIND AN INJURED BIRD OF PREY, it may be infected with the disease.