5. 4. Statement: Avian Influenza

Part of the debate – in the Senedd at 4:03 pm on 10 January 2017.

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Photo of Joyce Watson Joyce Watson Labour 4:03, 10 January 2017

I don’t wish, Cabinet Secretary, to delay the debate or lengthen the debate by asking all the questions that have already been asked, so I’m going to focus in on just two areas. One of them has been mentioned, but it’s about how we let the public know about the mechanisms for reporting, because not all the public who may come across something they think could possibly be suspicious will understand the process of reporting. So, maybe we could look at letting them know that they can go to their local council, for example, or any other authority within their locality who could then pass that on on their behalf—it might be useful in reporting.

I think the other area that perhaps could be explained little bit more is the advantage to those people who don’t have flocks of 50 birds or more in actually registering their birds and what they get from that, because I know from somebody who has only got four birds that they get kept up to date on the latest situation so that they can protect themselves.

Also, I’m going to reiterate what I said earlier: we do have an unfortunate circumstance at the moment with the weather in eastern Europe. These are all migratory birds that are affected, and the migration could possibly increase if that weather front hangs in eastern Europe, where a lot of these birds are coming from. So, if you are able to tell us whether that is in your consideration.