By Gordon Berry

RESIDENTS OF Fife’s East Neuk were yesterday stunned to discover the potentially deadly H5N1 avian flu virus had been confirmed in tests carried out on a swan found dead at Cellardyke harbour last week.

Almost a full week after the bird was discovered and sent off to an EU lab in Surrey, the disease which has been rampaging across continents with some loss of human life has now been confirmed for the first time in the UK’s wild bird population.

Amid fears the virus might now find its way into domestic poultry flocks, experts have claimed that the risk to human life in this country is practically non-existent.

It has been repeatedly stressed that avian flu is a disease of birds and whilst it can pass very rarely and with difficulty to humans, this requires extremely close contact with the infection.

People living around the harbour, however, yesterday questioned the amount of time taken for warnings to be issued, though Scotland’s chief veterinary officer Charles Milne has rejected any suggestion of delay, and insisted “the timeline could not have been tighter.”

Now, though, the special protection and surveillance zones, which reach out a total of 10 kilometres from the spot where the dead swan was found, have taken on extra significance, and there will be rigid enforcement of rules set up as part of the country’s contingency plans.

The three-kilometre protection zone does not contain any registered flocks, but there are nine registered in the surveillance zone, which will now have increased monitoring.

In addition, members of the public have been warned not to touch dead birds and to report findings of dead swans, geese or ducks.

The East Neuk is on a migratory route for wildfowl of various types, and every year tens of thousands of geese and ducks arrive at destinations such as the Eden and Tay estuaries. The dead bird is thought to be a native mute swan and not a migratory bird.

Keepers of poultry in the three- kilometre protection zone are being instructed to isolate their birds from wild birds by taking them indoors wherever possible, and measures to restrict the movement of poultry, eggs and poultry products have been brought into immediate effect.

Yesterday there was a heavy press presence in Cellardyke, and police were checking vehicles in the area to make sure no poultry is being transported. Although there are several registered flocks in the area, the only one of any real size is close to the edge of the 10-kilometre surveillance zone.

It is run by Donald Peddie, of Kilduncan Farm, near Kingsbarns, who has 22,000 laying hens which are already kept indoors.

He said yesterday he had been contacted by the Scottish Executive Environment and Rural Affairs Department (SEERAD) and by the Animal Health office in Perth and had been told to carry on business as normal at the moment.

He said the business has had long- term planning for such a thing happening, and among the measures he has taken are stringent disinfections, strict visitor control, and providing separate clothing for each shed and each person.

The man who reported the find to the authorities, St Andrews university researcher Dan Young (45), described how he had seen just a “mangled heap of feathers”, and another couple who live beside the harbour said they would have liked more information about what had been going on.

And Richard Ingram and Aileen Bracken, whose house overlooks the harbour slipway, said they were anxious for more information.

Mr Ingram (34), a university lecturer, said the beach was “effectively our front garden,” and the couple’s three children had been playing in the area since the swan was removed.

Last night the councillor for the area, Elizabeth Riches, said she had been dismayed to hear confirmation of the virus, but local people were taking the view that the danger had been removed and they wanted normality to return.

The secretary of Anstruther Community Council, Martin Dibley, said most local people appeared to have been in the dark over what was happening.

He said there were no big egg or poultry producers in the three- kilometre protection zone, although he was aware of people keeping “backyard chickens”.

Fife Council’s head of environmental services, Fraser Thomson, said the local authority would be supporting the Scottish Executive and State Veterinary Service in their handling of the incident in Cellardyke.

“Our main role will be to monitor animal movements and to help enforce the exclusion zones,” said Mr Thomson.

NHS Fife yesterday repeated the warning that people should not handle any dead birds that are found.

Doctor Lesley Macdonald, the NHS Fife director of public health, said that at this stage there is no reason for public health concern.

“Avian influenza is a disease of birds, and whilst it can pass with difficulty to humans, this requires extremely close contact with infected poultry, particularly faeces,” she said.

“It is highly unlikely to be passed from human to human.

“It is extremely unlikely that any birds people come across will have avian influenza.

“However, if members of the public find dead birds, particularly in large numbers, they should not handle them and should call the helpline on 08459 335577 which will direct them to Science Advisory Council laboratories.”