Whitby Wildlife Sanctuary owner tackles 'hate messages' after 'traumatic' culling of 440 birds due to avian flu outbreak

The sanctuary at Broomfield Farm in Whitby remains shut following an outbreak of avian flu which owner Alex Farmer has described as the most traumatic week of her life.

Posting on the charity’s public Facebook site, owner Alex Farmer said: “Our darkest days ever in our 13 years and I am still receiving abuse from other rescue centres.

“This last week has been the most traumatic and upset I've ever been.

“To call this experience traumatic is an understatement. Then to get hate messages, texts, WhatsApps and emails, not to mention seeing hateful comments on other groups and pages is only adding to the trauma.

“I hope no other rescue centre ever has to go through what we've been through up here.”

False information has been circulating on the internet and Ms Farmer has spoken out to clarify the circumstances surrounding the outbreak.

She said: “1. The figure is close to 500 birds culled. Not 2000.

“2. APHA (Animal and Plant Heath Agency) were not standing around with rifles shooting birds in the sky that surrounds the charity.

“3. APHA are not killing all birds within a 3km area.

“4. The decision to cull all of our birds happened within 48 hrs, not several weeks. We were told ourselves it was happening the day it started. It took them within 24 hours to do it all. As soon as those tests came back positive, it all happened extremely quickly.

Read more: Whitby Wildlife Sanctuary forced to cull rescue birds after avian flu outbreak traced to abandoned cockerels

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“5. It is not true that we turned sabs and fellow rescue centres away from our gates when they came to rescue birds. That simply did not happen. It is also not true that sabs, 'vegan activists' and other rescue centres had offered to send hundreds of people to protest 'as the killings went on for several weeks'... The only thing we have got from some these individuals has been hate.

“6. Our flocks of free flying pigeons, gulls and peacocks were left and still visit every day for food. They were not shot. They all continue to look well.

“7. We did everything in our power to save the birds here. To say we were a part of the killing, that we invited defra in to kill, that we are murderers ourselves is cruel.

“8. We did not round up flying free birds and contain them ready for APHA to kill.

“9. Our own charity status never crossed our minds with this. We did everything we could to save them, through the correct legal channels. We weren't 'more worried about losing our charity status'. Our birds meant more to us than anybody outside of our charity could ever know.

“10. Our volunteers were not on site to witness. I did that alone with one family member for support.

“Some rescue centres have blamed us for the bird's deaths because we reported it to APHA in the first place.

“Legally, we had a duty to report the suspicious poultry deaths. To not do so, would jeopardise the health of not only all birds in this area anyway, but our volunteers who were seeing birds daily, members of the general public coming and going and our entire local community. To not do so is a crime and subject to an unlimited fine on summary conviction with up to 6 months’ imprisonment.

“We had never predicted that all of our birds would be killed. After all, our wild birds appeared well, were segregated away from the confirmed infected poultry and had their own biosecurity in place.

“To be told they would be culling every single bird on site, whether their tests were negative or not, whether they were near the infected birds or not, or wherever they were housed, was a complete shock and not something any of us would have predicted when we first reported the suspicious deaths to APHA.

“This last week has been extremely stressful, traumatic and upsetting. I appreciate the messages of love and support and I am sorry I have not replied to many of you. To even talk about it this last week was extremely distressing.

“The only thing we could have done to prevent this tragedy was to have not admitted birds at all during this avian flu period.

“The cockerels in question that died appeared well until the moment they simply keeled over and died. I witnessed chickens in the same building looking fine one moment then dying without warning the next. It was really quite frightening.

“One of APHAs concerns was that other birds on site could have been infected but were asymptomatic and the risk to human health was too great.”

"I really hope no other rescue centre goes through what we've been through up here.

“Our osprey is the only bird they spared. Her tests were negative and she is being monitored closely by APHA.”

An Animal and Plant Health Agency spokesperson said: “Last week the Chief Veterinary Officer Christine Middlemiss confirmed bird flu at an animal rescue centre in Whitby, North Yorkshire.

“These birds have tested positive for bird flu and therefore have sadly been culled in order to limit the risk of the disease spreading to other birds and to mitigate any potential risk to public health.

“Our sympathies remain with the keeper and all those with animals affected by this terrible disease.”

A 3km Captive Bird (Monitoring) Controlled Zone has been put in place around the premises.

The spokesperson also clarified the number of birds affected a statement read: “It’s not correct to say 2,000 birds were culled by the Animal and Plant Health Agency (APHA). Approximately 440 birds were culled.

“No other birds within the 3km Captive Bird (Monitoring) Controlled Zone are being culled by APHA officers. Only the birds on the infected premises were culled.”

Whitby Town Mayor Cllr Linda Wild donated £100 from her Mayor's allowance for wildlife sanctuary. She said: "It's a tragedy, I feel terrible for them."