Zorena Jantze
OWNERS of Bird Island and their employees have been left with the daunting task of picking up the carcasses of birds that succumbed to the Highly Pathogenic Avian Influenza (HPAI) H5N1 strain recently confirmed by the agriculture ministry.
The spokesperson of the Ministry of Agriculture, Water and Land Reform, Jona Musheko, stated that while the ministry is not responsible for the collection of the contaminated birds specifically on Bird Island, they have been given a directive to ensure that the dead birds are destroyed, meaning burned.
He added that officials from the Ministry of Health and Social Services as well as the veterinary directorate are helping in doing inspections and destroying the carcasses.
In a statement, the ministry said over 200 dead wild birds have been observed along the Namibian coastline between Walvis Bay and Swakopmund in the Erongo region.
The veterinary directorate further shared that mainly the Cape Cormorants bird species have been affected by the outbreak since 13 January 2022 on Bird Island near Walvis Bay and around the Salt Company in Swakopmund. The Highly Pathogenic Avian Influenza is also transmissible to humans and can cause severe sickness.
The Executive Director of Health and Social Services, Ben Nangombe, urged the public to not panic as the bird flu is a seasonal occurrence and that to date no humans have been confirmed to be infected by the avian flu.
Nangombe, however, cautioned those who are handling the contaminated bird carcasses to do so with care.
“Let the people handling these birds handle them with appropriate care to prevent them from catching infections,” Nangombe said.
