Avian flu: Whitby Wildlife Sanctuary confirms that all birds on site have been culled

Speaking on their Facebook page, the sanctuary, based at Whitby's Broomfield Farm, said: "We fought extensively to protect all of the animals in our care.

"There was no signs of disease in any of the wild birds here, all of them were away from the infected area and were covered over with their own biosecurity in place.

"However APHA deemed it too risky to spare any of them.

"As we have learnt this week, a negative test result does not save a bird from being culled..

The sanctuary first notified APHA following a small number of suspicious deaths of farmyard birds last week.

Samples were taken and avian flu was confirmed by APHA within 24 hours.

A 3km Captive Bird (Monitoring) Controlled zone was put into place.

The sanctuary is closed and will remain closed until APHA confirms that the outbreak has been eradicated and the site disinfected.

A statement from Laurie Farmer at Whitby Wildlife Sanctuary said it was not known how Avian Flu entered the site, which has good bio-security measures in place.

Anyone who may have a particular interest in poultry keeping and other concerns are advised to consult the APHA website in first instance for more information.

The control zone means that all owners of poultry in and around Whitby are required to comply with control measures to help prevent the spread of Avian Flu and are advised to check the APHA website for the required measures.