A SWAN rescue centre in Wychbold has had to shut after bird flu was passed onto animals receiving treatment.

The virus has been detected in swans in Worcestershire, including Diglis and in Evesham.

Jan Harrigan from Wychbold Swan Rescue says the virus was passed onto birds after treating swans from Evesham.

She says that a total of nine swans at the centre have died, as well as chickens.

She told The Advertiser: "We've got birds all over the place getting into difficulties and we can't do anything about it, which is sad.

"It's happened before and it will happen again. It's not good at the moment and we've just got to work out a way through it.

"All the canals and rivers are in trouble."

Previously a couple in Worcester said there have been two dead swans floating in the water outside their Diglis home for two days.

Seven swans were also found dead by The Swan Food Project in Worcester.

Ben Wakefield said: “Two days on the trot we have seen dead swans floating in the Basin in Diglis.

“My girlfriend has rang the council and Defra (Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs) and they have informed us of a disease in the swans.

"Yet I have not seen anyone around to recover bodies for testing, they are just floating on the water. It’s grim. My girlfriend was quite upset by it, it’s like living above a swan graveyard.

“I would have thought, given the seriousness of the disease, the swans would be removed immediately to stop the spread but this hasn’t happened.

“If this attitude continues, Worcester could lose its swan population and the River Severn will never be the same.”

Marilyn McCarthy from The Swan Food Project said: “Five bodies were collected over the weekend for testing. There were six bodies, or the remains of them, near Diglis Island. Another was reported up river over the weekend. A number of swans are very sick, others are becoming sick.

“It is very sad to witness, but there is no treatment for them. If avian influenza is confirmed, and in view of the rate of infection in only one week, we can expect more deaths.”