Overview
- A routine necropsy of a deceased Wallich pheasant identified Newcastle disease, with the regional lab reporting a positive result and the national reference lab confirming it the next day.
- Zoo Berlin has closed its bird areas to visitors, kept the rest of the zoo open, and placed all birds under heightened biosecurity measures.
- Birds were already housed indoors or in secured areas due to the wild-bird avian influenza situation, and epidemiological investigations are now underway.
- The detection comes as Brandenburg battles major outbreaks that triggered culling of about 360,000 birds in Storkow and roughly 70,000 in Lindendorf, with surveillance zones including parts of Treptow-Köpenick.
- Authorities stress that the virus poses minimal risk to people, with rare conjunctivitis after close contact, and that eggs and poultry meat remain safe for consumers.