Telegraph | News | French cat lovers panic after bird flu death — I sure wouldn’t want to be a chicken farmer right now.
France’s pet owners reacted with panic yesterday to the confirmation that a cat found dead in Germany was killed by bird flu.
Its animal protection society, the SPA, was bombarded with calls from people worried at their pet catching the disease’s lethal H5N1 strain. Some abandoned their cats.
“We are getting calls from cat owners wanting to know if there are risks,” said Serge Belais, the society’s president. “People are panicking.”
He had no numbers of abandoned cats but said: “The risk is that we’ll see the deluge in the days or weeks to come.”
The German cat was found at the weekend on the island of Ruegen, where more than 100 wild birds have tested positive for H5N1. The cat had probably eaten part of an infected bird.
It may sound funny, but I’m serious when I say It may not be safe to be a bird breeder in France right now. The British were relatively laid back about the mad cow thing, but the French have a more easily understood disease on their hands. The masses will fear a deadly flu more than a “prionic” disease they don’t understand.