Retired rail worker first to get bird flu strain

VICTIM SAYS SEEING DUCKS CULLED ‘TORE ME TO PIECES AND HAS BROKEN MY HEART’

- AMY REAST & LILI STEBBINGS

A RETIRED man with a flock of ducks has been named as the first person in the UK to contract bird flu during the current outbreak.

Alan Gosling, 79, is in isolation after falling ill with the disease. His family say they are worried about him being locked inside all alone.

The father-of-three, from Buckfastleigh, south Devon, began to see some of his ducks falling ill in late December. All 160 of the flock had to be culled shortly after Christmas.

Doctors did tests to see if Alan himself had become infected, despite the fact the H5N1 strain had never infected a human before. The results came back positive.

The former railway worker is now stuck inside his home alone as he grieves for his prized flock – with his family growing increasingly concerned.

Daughter-in-law Ellesha Gosling, 26, said: “The past couple of weeks have been hell. Alan told us when the birds were killed it was the ‘worst moment of his life’.