Bird Is The Word

In Mecklenburg-Vorpommern, the worse affected state in the north-east of Germany which includes Rügen, officials said yesterday they would start rounding up stray cats. Till Backhaus, the state agriculture minister, said there would be "no targeted hunting of cats". But he said that stray cats discovered in affected areas would be caught or "dealt with using other measures", raising the possibility that they could be shot. The WHO urged caution yesterday and said there was no reason to believe the virus could be transmitted between cats and humans. But there was little doubt that bird flu is spreading across Europe.