"Gordon Graham, 38, from Edinburgh, said: "I told my seven-year-old he could go down to the water and see where the swan died but not to touch the water or any bird droppings. He was really curious, I just thought it would be fun for him." "
um fun ya, this is the disease for which they are planning drive-through clinics in the US. I'm not saying the area should be under quarantine, mind you but you have to wonder about people who would go to some effort to expose themselves and their children too http://news.scotsman.com/scotland.cfm?id=573562006 ...... Printer friendly Send to friend Visitors flock to the Fife 'risk zone' EBEN HARRELL A WEEK after a dead swan put the area at the centre of Britain's biggest health scare in years, the cluster of seaside villages in the East Neuk of Fife was yesterday dealing with a flock of invaders of a more welcome variety - tourists. Cellardyke, where the swan with the H5N1 virus was found last week, and neighbouring Anstruther were both busy with holidaymakers here to catch the spring sun. While some hotels reported cancellations, yesterday's robust tourist trade prompted speculation that bird flu and its resulting media exposure might actually have been good for business. As public health fears recede, some hoteliers and business owners are even preparing for what one business owner called "the news tourists": visitors who make the journey simply to see the spot made famous by Cellardyke's disease- ridden bird. "I have a feeling this will be good for business in the long run," said Ken Lawson, owner of the Springdrift B&B in Anstruther. "All the exposure and the coverage in the news can only help. The helicopter shots of Cellardyke were beautiful and I think [Cellardyke] harbour might be a place of interest." The harbour, where the whooper swan washed ashore in late March, is a quiet enclosure shielded by ancient stone walls and blocks of houses from Anstruther, where most tourists to the area congregate. It is not a spot many people would seek out, but yesterday several visitors made the ten-minute walk from Anstruther to see where the swan was discovered. "We thought it would be worth walking over and having a wee look," Ryan McKinley, from Dalgety Bay, said. "It's interesting to see the spot that was on the news so much last week." Gordon Graham, 38, from Edinburgh, said: "I told my seven-year-old he could go down to the water and see where the swan died but not to touch the water or any bird droppings. He was really curious, I just thought it would be fun for him." One of the area's major attractions is the ferry to the Isle of May, a large rock that at this time of year provides a sanctuary for migrating birds. The first ferry trips will take place this weekend and skipper Colin Murray said he had received several bookings. The Isle of May reserve manager, Therese Alamto, said: "We've stepped up our monitoring and we always look around for anything unusual. There's always going to be dead birds on a sea island but we are keeping our eyes open. When people arrive they will be asked as usual to stay on the path." At the waterfront in Anstruther, the benches were crowded with tourists. Mary Ann Mitchelson and James Robinson held their wedding reception in the town yesterday. The bride, from Dundee, said: "I think the swan made us more committed to come here. I've loved this area my whole life and want to see it do well." Elizabeth Riches, a local councillor, said coverage of the swan would be to the area's advantage. "The images [in the media] of Cellardyke were beautiful. I hope people remember what an attractive place this area is rather than the bird flu." Ellen Graham, the area director for VisitScotland, said: "There were concerns, but that seems to have abated." Mystery surrounds 'missing head' excuse after delay in identifying species of bird CLAIMS that the delay in identifying the swan found dead from bird flu in Fife were due to the absence of the creature's head are incorrect, The Scotsman has learned. Officials had blamed the absence of the head for their mistake in initially identifying the bird as a native mute swan, rather than a migratory whooper. But vets at the Scottish Agricultural College say the body was intact when it was recovered from the harbour at Cellardyke. Barti Synge, the SAC's veterinary services group manager, said yesterday that he did not understand why some officials had sought to blame the delays on the absence of a head. "My information is that it did have a head but it was difficult to identify in terms of species because it had been predated," he said. "I don't know where the suggestion came from that it did not have a head. It didn't come from us. We were just unable to identify it with any certainty. The fact that it's a whooper is a minor detail and there certainly hasn't been any cover-up." Earlier this week Ross Finnie, the Scottish environment minister, said DNA tests on the bird had shown it was a whooper, which had probably flown to the UK from Iceland, Russia or Scandinavia. Officials said the failure to correctly identify the bird until a week after it was first confirmed to have the H5N1 strain of bird flu had made no difference to risk assessments or to measures monitoring birds for the virus. A spokesman said the bird had been hard to identify, and had to be tested twice. 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