Bird flu 'not likely' to have killed Co Wicklow swans

The swans found dead in the Kilcoole area of Wicklow yesterday are believed to have died from poisoning, and not any strain of the avian flu.

Test results are expected in the next ten days, but Government officials have given assurances that they are not concerned it is an outbreak of bird flu.

Meanwhile, Russia has reported a new outbreak of the disease in a part of Siberia that was hit by bird flu last summer.

About 90 chickens and ducks have died in the Ormsk region and tests have confirmed that they have the same strain of avian flu that has devastated flocks in Asia since 2003.

A quarantine is in place around the village affected by the latest outbreak.

And in China, officials say they haven't had reports of another human victim of bird flu there.

It was claimed that a 12-year-old girl had died in a village known to have cases of the virus.