Tasmanian Bird Flu Response
Story compiled by Loretta Leary, Secretary of Permaculture Tasmania — this information comes directly from Biosecurity Tasmania
What is bird flu?
Bird flu is a highly contagious viral disease of birds.
It can affect poultry farms, backyard poultry, and wild birds. It can cause disease in other animals, including mammals such as seals, and scavenging species.
Some bird species carry bird flu without symptoms or illness but birds and other animals sick with bird flu will likely die.
Due to wild bird movements, it is not possible to stop bird flu from spreading among wildlife and may result in large numbers of bird and mammal deaths.
Symptoms
Signs of avian influenza in live birds include:
- breathing problems like coughing or sneezing
- circling
- tremors and incoordination
- twisted neck
- inability to stand or fly
- swelling in the head, neck and eyes
- change of colour or cloudiness in the eyes.
Signs in live mammals include tremors and incoordination, seizures, breathing problems, and runny nose and drooling.
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