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BWA National Championship Show, Solihull Autumn is fast approaching and the time is coming to prepare for our own Championship Show. This is on November 7th and takes place at Solihull Riding Club, Four Ashes Road, Bentley Heath, Solihull, West Midlands B93 8QE. Tel: 01564 770180 /774121 Further details and entry form are available on the Articles page. |
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The BWA now offers both open and closed rings for sale Further details and order info is available from the shop. Click here. |
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RARE BREEDS DATABASE Working with stakeholders, Defra have agreed a list of rare breeds of poultry and other captive birds in line with Articles 13 & 40 of the Avian Influenza Directive 2005/94/EC (see Policy & Legislation section). This Legislation allows for instances where Avian Influenza is confirmed on a premises, and any birds on that premises that are listed as a rare breed (by Defra) may potentially benefit from the derogation from culling, providing such derogations do not endanger disease control. Defra consulted with key stakeholders on the definition of a rare breed, and agreed that the following four rare breed criteria must be fulfilled:
The final list of rare breeds is available. This is not a closed list, and if evidence can be provided to support all four rare breed criteria, Defra will consider all further submissions to include additional breeds on the list. Equally, a breed can be removed from the list if it no longer fulfils all criteria. Any queries or submissions relating to rare breeds can be sent to navjit.mudhar@defra.gsi.gov.uk. |
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AVIAN INFLUENZA Information from DEFRA Avian influenza (AI) is a disease of birds, not humans. People can become infected but rarely are. There are many strains of avian influenza viruses which vary in their ability to cause disease. AI viruses are categorized according to this ability to cause severe disease (pathogenicity) in avian species as either highly pathogenic avian influenza viruses (HPAI) or low pathogenic (LPAI). LPAI does not always cause obvious disease in birds. It is thought that influenza viruses circulate freely in the global wildfowl population. Some strains of HPAI spread easily and quickly between birds in poultry populations and cause severe disease, with a high death rate. In rare cases, some HPAI strains have lead to severe disease and deaths in people where infection has resulted from close contact with infected birds. There is a limited number of reported cases of person to person spread of AI, but no evidence of sustained transmission between people. AI viruses can exchange genetic material with human influenza viruses in humans or susceptible animals to emerge as new viruses which may be capable of being spread easily between people. This is what makes AI a potential threat to public health. The global human population may have little or no immunity to a new influenza virus that significantly differs from recent or existing strains of human influenza viruses. So any outbreak of AI must be controlled quickly and workers and veterinarians in close contact with infected birds must be well protected. The Government has contingency plans in place to ensure this can be achieved. See the DEFRA website for advice on,
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