# 2083
Late last week there was a report of 8 swan deaths in Wales, in the town of Caernarfon. Defra (Department of Environment, Food and Rural Affairs) was initially reluctant to test the birds, but relented after local concerns were voiced.
Today, while no cause of death has yet been determined, we are told it wasn't bird flu.
Caernarfon swan deaths: It wasn’t bird flu
Jun 18 2008 by Hywel Trewyn, Daily Post
SCIENTISTS who tested eight dead swans found in a river in Caernarfon have ruled out bird flu as a cause.
The bodies of the birds were found in a stretch of water along the Afon Seiont, last week within a few hundred yards of the town’s historic castle.
Locals alerted Caernarfon harbour master Richard Jones who, with members of his team, went out in a boat to collect and bag the stinking carcasses.
They were then taken to a Defra lab in Shrewsbury where they were taken to be tested for bird flu.
Last night a National Assembly spokeswoman said that tests were continuing to find out exactly why the birds had died.
It is not thought pollution was to blame, as no fish were found to be affected.
She said: “Tests carried out on the swans from the river Seiont in Caernarfon have ruled out bird flu.
