Bird flu is ravaging along the coast of Finnmark. No one knows exactly how many are infected. – There is a limited number of dead birds that can be found. Then only a fraction of these are sampled, says Grim Rømo, specialist for poultry at the Veterinary Institute. In Storelva in Vadsø alone, around 1,000 dead seagulls were taken out on Monday. The municipality must take out more resources if the problem continues. The three bird pickers – It doesn’t look good, neither for the local population nor for the tourists who visit us up here in Vadsø, says operations manager in the municipality, Pål Johnsen. From Storelva, he tells news about an unclear situation. No one knows how long it will last or how many birds will drift in along the riverside in Vadsø in the future. As of now, the municipality has designed three bird pickers, but is prepared to do more. For the time being, Vadsø municipality has activated the three bird pickers Glenn Terje Kostamo (from left), Adrian Johnsen and Eimund Larsen. Photo: Hanne Wilhelms / news – I feel that new ones are coming all the time, that we are just clearing space for the next ones, says Glenn Terje Kostamo. He, Adrian Johnsen and Eimund Larsen have since Friday picked about 1,600 dead birds in Vadsø. – It’s an insane amount. I pick for ten minutes, and in that time one, two or three new ones have probably died, says Eimund. The guys who have been given responsibility for the clean-up in Vadsø describe the whole thing as unpleasant. Photo: Hanne Wilhelms / news They describe that several of the seagulls are sitting around a grave site of dead colleagues. – You can see that many of them are suffering. Lies and wiggles his head and moves, says Adrian. If the problem continues, the municipality is considering asking the Civil Defense for help. Pål Johnsen says they will follow the situation closely over the next few days. Extremely much in the north Since autumn 2020, bird flu has spread among birds in Europe and other parts of the world. In May, the British newspaper The Guardian wrote that over 50,000 birds have died from infection between October 2021 and April 2023 in Great Britain. There is now a high mortality rate among birds infected with bird flu. Photo: Hanne Wilhelms / news – We are talking about large dark figures. Many of the birds are taken by predators, explains Grim Rømo from the Veterinary Institute. In Norway, we do not have exact figures, but infection has been detected in large parts of northern Norway. Last year, infection was also detected on Svalbard for the first time. Rømo describes the situation along the coast of Finnmark as extreme. – It is definitely disturbing. Many of the stocks here are endangered and there is a high mortality rate. Grim Rømo, head of poultry at the Veterinary Institute, says the bird flu situation is worrying. Photo: Bryndis Holm / Veterinærinstituttet Krykkjene, which is a red-listed gull species, accounts for a large proportion of the infected birds. – What do you do if you come across a sick bird? – Normally, the advice would be to help or euthanize the bird, but considering the outbreak and the risk of infection, you would prefer that private individuals not be in contact with the birds.
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Bag upon bag of dead birds in Vadsø – 1,000 seagulls were retrieved on Monday – news Troms and Finnmark
