Cumbria County Council is calling on all poultry keepers to register their birds as part of a national scheme aimed at tackling Avian Influenza and are backing the call from the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs (DEFRA) for all poultry keepers to put details of their poultry flocks on the Great Britain Poultry Register.
This register is an essential part of controlling Avian Influenza. Local authorities will help DEFRA ensure controls on poultry keeping and movements are effective in reducing the disease to a minimum and that all poultry keepers are aware of what they must do.
Regulations that came in on 9th December 2005 require those who own or are responsible for 50 or more poultry at a commercial poultry premises to give their details to DEFRA.
Crucially, people with flocks below 50 birds or who have non-commercial flocks can register voluntarily. More than 17,000 registrations have been received by DEFRA so far but the County Council wants to ensure that all poultry keepers have the opportunity to register their flocks.
Registration is simple –either go to the DEFRA website (www.defra.gov.uk) or ring the DEFRA helpline: 08459 335577. Poultry keepers can also get information from the DEFRA website on what they can do to protect their birds, including making preparations to keep their birds indoors away from wild birds –particularly wild fowl.