Hundreds of dead sea birds wash up along the coast of Groningen, Netherlands

Along the Groningen Wadden coast, many dead birds have washed ashore lately. According to the Groningen Landscape Foundation, the animals are victims of bird flu.

“In the autumn we also had a period with bird flu, but then it was not nearly as bad as it is now. It’s really about hundreds of dead specimens now,” Silvan Puijman of Het Groninger Landschap told RTV Noord.

As manager of the Wadden coast, Puijman sees the dead birds lying by bushes. “Especially barnacle geese and black-headed gulls. At the hiking trails we remove the dead birds, but in the inaccessible nature reserves we leave them. In this way we hope to prevent the spread of the virus.”

The virus spreads through the excrement of the birds. “If you get goose manure under your shoes, you spread the avian flu virus.” The virus is transmissible to humans and can cause mild flu symptoms.

Courtesy of nos.nl

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