The Food and Veterinary Service (PVD) has received the results of laboratory examinations confirming highly pathogenic avian influenza in forest geese in the Skaņkalne parish of Valmiera municipality. This is the first bird flu case detected in Latvia in 2024, the PVD reported.
The Service asks Latvian poultry keepers not to allow poultry outdoors without fenced structures, preventing poultry contact with wild birds, especially waterfowl (swans, ducks), as well as to refrain from purchasing poultry in other European countries during spring months.
Poultry owners should report to the PVD immediately if birds show signs of disease – significant reductions in feed and water intake, decreased laying, or increased mortality.
Residents, meanwhile, have been urged to report dead wild waterfowl by calling the PVD hotline at 67027402 or informing the nearest PVD territorial authority. Under no circumstances should birds be brought home (especially if any birds are kept at home) or taken to animal shelters because if the bird brought turns out to be infected, all birds in the home or shelter will have to be eliminated, the PVD noted.