Europe Zoos prepare for worst from bird flu

Paris - Europe's zoos are drawing up plans to vaccinate, confine or, in worst-case scenarios, to slaughter their avian boarders in order to prevent the spread of the deadly strain of bird flu.
The H5N1 strain - lethal to feathered friends and humans alike - has been detected in hundreds of migratory water fowl found dead across Europe, and animal health officials worry the disease could insinuate itself into open-air bird populations in hundreds of zoos and nature preserves.
In the absence of centralised guidelines from European officials, individual zoos have adopted their own strategies for coping with the threat, ranging from vaccinating everything with feathers to confinement indoors.
A few zoos, however, have opted for a wait-and-see approach, looking to Brussels or national governments for guidance.
Belgium's main zoos started vaccinating hundreds of rare birds this week.
"It is mainly pelicans, cranes, ostrich and water fowl that must stay in the open and thus run the greatest risk of infection," explained Ilse Segers, spokesperson for Antwerp zoo, the largest in the country.
The vaccine by injection is easily administered in most cases, but there are exceptions.
"Trying to catch an ostrich can take a bit of time," said zoo director Steffen Patzwahl.
The Dutch Association of Zoos, grouping the 15 largest animal parks in The Netherlands, has adopted an even more proactive, blanket approach - most of its birds were already vaccinated in December.
Two zoos in Portugal, Grandola and Europaradise, also decided that vaccination was the best option, along with the Schoenbrunn zoo in Vienna.
Other establishments, however, have simply confined their avian inmates indoors to prevent any possible contact with wild, migratory fowl.
"We plan to make small pools inside aviaries to let our birds have some water, but visitors will not see pelicans, ducks and other birds in our (outdoor) ponds," said Vaclovas Dumcius, director of Lithuania's only zoo, located in Kaunas.
In Denmark, Copenhagen zoo has confined most of its birds and is feeding them only in places where wild birds will not be attracted by the food.
Administrators of Riga Zoo in Latvia have decided - for the time being - to keep their birds outdoors.
"It would be a last resort to put Japanese cranes or peacocks in rooms," said spokesperson Ingmars Lidaka.
"If confined, she explained, "new birds would not be born. The cranes have already started their 'wedding dances' - it would be cruel to lock them in rooms."
Several zoos in Switzerland have been allowed leave some of their birds in the open, particularly those which are mating, on the condition that they make regular checks on them.
The most radical measure envisaged by authorities so far is that of Froso zoo in central Sweden and in a Paris zoo.
Froso is prepared to put down all its 500 birds if H5N1 bird flu reaches the Scandinavian country, zookeepers told TT news agency last week.