Birds being shot down 'for fear of infection'

Swans and other wild birds are being shot down by people worried about bird flu, according to a wildlife rescue group. Healthy swans, peregrine falcons and Canada geese have been shot out of the sky in Salisbury this year, despite pleas from wildlife experts to leave the birds alone.

Rescuers from Salisbury Wildlife Rescue found another injured swan on Monday, struggling to reach a river with a broken leg and nine pellets lodged in its chest. A local vet had to destroy the bird.

Philip Groombridge, from Wildlife Rescue, said: “It is ridiculous. People are shooting at everything flying over their land in case the birds have bird flu, but there is nothing wrong with them. The swan we found on Monday was peppered at least nine times. This swan was shot by a shotgun.�

Salisbury is home to about 350 swans. Mr Groombridge and his colleague, Tony Green, rescue about 200 each year but say more and more birds are being shot. “We suspect this is because of misplaced fears about bird flu,� Mr Green said.

It has been suggested that the decomposed swan infected with bird flu found in the harbour in Cellardyke, Scotland, had come from Germany. The bird had a similar strain of the H5N1 virus to one that affected birds in Ruegen Island in the Baltic Sea.