Heathrow, bird flu and sniffer dogs.

09 Nov, 2005

The avian flu alert has brought sniffer dogs to Heathrow airport. The dogs are checking passengers and baggage in the hope of stopping people from smuggling in birds that might be infected by the virus. Flights from Croatia, Turkey and Greece and any country where avian flu has been identified will be checked. The dogs are trying to sniff out dead or live birds, feathers and eggs. A case of the virus was recently found in a parrot that was being kept in quarantine in the UK, leading to fears that there might be other birds carrying the disease, especially the strain fatal to humans. Currently United Kingdom experts are saying that an outbreak of bird flu in the UK could cost up to 50,000 lives. However, the risk of this happening is still thought to be low.