Bird flu arrived in Serbia

A new wave of avian influenza, better known as bird flu, has arrived in Serbia.

Bird flu arrived in Serbia

A new wave of avian influenza, better known as bird flu, has arrived in Serbia.

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EPA-EFE/PABLO AGUILAR

The cranes are the most endangered this time, and the focus is in Hungary, where around 10,000 of these birds have died so far.

In our country, bird flu has appeared in the places that cranes use to rest during their flight to the south. There is a great danger that the virus will be transmitted to domestic poultry, according to RTS.

Citizens are advised not to enter the protected area of the Slano Kopovo Special Reserve near Novi Bečej, because until now, the nature guards have found more than 70 dead cranes here, whose remains were removed in the prescribed manner.

"Thanks to the help of the municipal administration itself, which hired Zoo Hygiene, the birds were harmlessly removed. So, a hole was dug, the birds were deposited, covered with lime," says Darko Lazarevic, a biologist at the "Slano Kopovo" nature reserve.

Confirmation that it was bird flu came after the analysis of tissue samples from dead cranes at the Scientific Institute of Veterinary Science in Novi Sad. The virus arrived earlier this year as well.

"That virus is mostly present in some colder periods of the year, in winter, and it mainly affected ducks and swans. However, in the last two to three years, the virus has practically entered the populations of almost all wild birds and is leaving catastrophic consequences for their populations," said Milan Ružić from the Society for the Study of Birds of Serbia.

Experts appeal to citizens to inform the authorities if a crane suddenly lands in their yard or if they see them in neighborhoods that they have no desire to fly. This is usually the first sign that they are infected.

"They stand exhausted for three or four days and cannot eat any more." They lose concentration of movement. Simply after that, they die. There is no escape for them if they get infected with the H5N1 bird flu virus.

In Senta, in the last few days, we found three cranes in the middle of the city in the gardens, and the cranes died there. There is a great danger that the virus will be transmitted to domestic poultry," says biologist-ornithologist Jožef Gergelj.

So far, around 500 dead cranes have been found in the localities along the Tisa, in Kapetanski rit, around Čoka, Slan Kopovo, Rusanda. In such situations, domestic poultry breeders are also at risk, and they should take precautions and protect their flocks.