One flu over the cuckoo's nest

PARIS - The whistle blew sharply and the Man from the Town Hall bellowed instructions at those in the school playground: the children and their teacher should head indoors at once.

The area was immediately sealed off and a team in protective gear dealt with the suspicious find.

The object of their attention was not linked to terrorism, nor were there traces of plutonium from a nuclear power station. The alert was sparked by the discovery of something far more apocalyptic: a dead pigeon.

Pretty much anything with feathers - and now even cats and dogs - have fallen under a cloud of suspicion since France detected its first outbreak of H5N1 bird flu.

What before were the cuddly creatures of farmyards and children's books are now being viewed darkly as potential vectors of the deadly virus.

The Government is desperate to impart the facts through a media blitz but ignorance about H5N1 remains deep, prompting reactions that range from the over-zealous to the panicky.

Some town halls are carrying out bird censuses, requiring citizens to inform them if they have pet exotic birds or if they keep a hen in the garden.

In the village of Grissy-Suisnes, 81-year-old Jeanne Joubert, was stunned when she saw gendarmes arrive outside her home.

"I thought they had come to kill all my hens, like on the television," she said. They were there to count them.

In areas where bird flu has been detected, cat owners have been ordered to keep them indoors at all times and dogs are to be kept on a lead.

"I've had dozens of calls from terrified people who are talking about abandoning their cats," said Claudine Bailly, who runs a cat shelter. "Some are threatening to bump off strays."

A Marseilles ferry last week quarantined its 450 passengers after two dead seabirds were found on deck.

The passengers were confined for several hours until experts in protective gear picked up the birds and the decks were swabbed with disinfectant.

The Paris Fire Brigade is being besieged by reports of corpses of pigeons or sparrows, even though the death rate of these birds is normal.

The biggest casualty is the poultry industry. Despite reassurances chicken is safe if properly cooked, sales are down 40 per cent.

The president of the farmers' association says it is every citizen's "patriotic duty" to eat chicken.