Overview
- Leiden’s animal rescue service reports nonstop callouts since early November, collecting about fifty suspected cases and euthanizing confirmed infections under current protocol.
- Responders describe wild birds collapsing with neurological and eye problems consistent with a strain that affects the nervous system, with many dying within days.
- Municipal notices instruct people not to touch carcasses and to report sick or dead birds to the NVWA Landelijk meldpunt dierziekten at 045 546 3188.
- Companion animals have been affected in local hotspots, including kittens that died after exposure, prompting guidance to keep cats indoors and to walk dogs on a leash.
- Regional updates include a confirmed case in a swan in Woerden and precautionary measures at facilities where captive birds could contact wild waterfowl, with field teams using full protective gear.