Disneyland accused of hiding dead swan in panic
Posted: Fri Mar 10, 2006 3:13 am
Disneyland accused of hiding dead swan in panic
DISNEYLAND Paris was accused yesterday of hiding a dead swan as panic over bird flu spread across Europe.
The allegations, angrily denied by the resort, were made by trade unions who said managers had hushed up the discovery to avoid scaring off visitors.
The row came amid what experts are describing as an avian flu psychosis after the arrival of the H5N1 virus.
In France, police officers have been sent to shoot wild ducks, the fire service has been inundated with requests to pick up dead pigeons, and cockerels banned from fighting are 'expiring from apoplexy'.
Scare
The scare reached Disneyland when two unions, the French Democratic Workers Confederation and Workers' Force, said staff had seen a dead swan in the adventure park.
Although there was no suggestion the swan had fallen victim to bird flu - or even proof that it had actually existed - the report featured prominently on the radio news.
The resort, which attracts 12m visitors a year, denounced the claims as "unacceptable lies". A spokesman said the only birds found dead on the site were a sparrow and pigeon, which had succumbed to natural causes.
Disneyland accused unions of making up the swan scare story to put pressure on management during wage negotiations. The confirmation yesterday of two new cases of bird flu in cats on the German Baltic Sea Island of Ruegen provoked fresh concerns from animal welfare societies.
