JAPAN - H5N1 bird flu virus found in body of endangered eagle in Kumamoto

[Theresa42]

H5N1 bird flu virus found in body of endangered eagle in Kumamoto
Sunday March 18, 10:07 PM

The highly virulent H5N1 strain of bird flu virus has been detected in the body of an endangered eagle in the village of Sagara, Kumamoto Prefecture, the Environment Ministry said Sunday.

The ministry has tasked a laboratory at Tottori University with examining the bird, a female of the species called the mountain hawk eagle, after it was found to be ailing in the village on Jan. 4 and died shortly afterward.

The ministry plans to catch wild birds and collect bird droppings around the area the bird was found.

The bird is on the Japanese government list of endangered species and there are believed to be some 1,800 inhabiting mountainous areas from Hokkaido in the north to Kyushu in the south.

The bird eats hares, snakes, other birds and various other animals in the mountains.

http://asia.news.yahoo.com/070318/kyodo/d8nukfig0.html

 

[Sally Furniss]

Re: JAPAN - H5N1 bird flu virus found in body of endangered eagle in Kumamoto

Bird flu death in Kumamoto Pref. did not affect surrounding areas

http://mdn.mainichi-msn.co.jp/national/news/20070407p2a00m0na008000c.html

The death of a wild hawk eagle from bird flue in Kumamoto Prefecture did not affect surrounding areas, the Environment Ministry has concluded.

No bird flu virus has been found in bird droppings or in wild birds that the ministry has caught within a radius of 10 kilometers from where the eagle died in Sagara in January, ministry officials said.

Since mid-March, the ministry examined bird droppings and some 100 wild birds that it caught in the area. It had earlier confirmed that poultry and other animals were not infected with bird flu virus. (Mainichi)