Netherlands to relax bird flu prevention measures

The Netherlands plans to further relax measures intended to prevent an outbreak of bird flu, the Agriculture Ministry said today.

As of January 1, the ministry will lift requirements that all commercial, pet, and zoo birds in “high risk” areas be kept sheltered or indoors.

“The peak of migration season is over by mid-December, and what’s more, there haven’t been any infections found during monitoring of wild birds,” the ministry said in a statement.

Measures barring bird markets and mandating extra disinfection procedures for imported birds will remain in force, it said.

The move follows a decision by the European Union Commission last week that countries should be able to determine their own policies to prevent an outbreak of bird flu, given that conditions vary from country to country.

In Asia the H5N1 strain of bird flu has swept through flocks and killed at least 68 people since 2003.

In Europe, wild birds have tested positive for H5N1 in Romania, Russia, Croatia and Turkey, but the virus has not been detected in humans.

The Netherlands lies in the path of westward wild bird migration from Asia, and suffered a major outbreak of a different strain in 2003 in which 30 million birds were slaughtered, 89 people were infected, and one died.

The country ruffled feathers in Brussels in August by ordering all birds indoors without waiting for European guidelines. The European Union Commission said then that the move was an “overreaction”.

In September, the Netherlands relaxed its policy to include only birds in “high-risk” areas – near large bodies of water and along main migration routes.

In October, the Commission banned the import of exotic birds and imposed stricter rules on the private ownership of parrots and other pet birds.

The Dutch ministry said it would continue to follow those restrictions.