The family of the UK's bird flu 'patient zero' have launched a £10,000 fundraiser to disinfect his home after his beloved ducklings were culled by officials.
Heartbroken Alan Gosling 79, is believed to have caught the potentially deadly H5N1 strain from the Mandarin ducks he adopted at his waterside home in Buckfastleigh, Devon.
He began to see some of his beloved flock falling ill in late December - which resulted in all 160 — 20 of which he kept inside - being culled soon after by a team in hazmat suits.
The retired train driver now sits at home alone - unable to even leave his front door as the property is considered contaminated.
His worried family are claiming they fear they will have to cover the cost of cleaning the inside of the house and have now set up a fundraiser in a desperate bid to raise money.
Heartbroken Alan Gosling 79, (pictured) is believed to have caught the potentially deadly H5N1 strain from the Mandarin ducks he adopted at his waterside home in Buckfastleigh, Devon
He began to see some of his beloved flock falling ill in late December - which resulted in all 160 — 20 of which he kept inside - being culled soon after by a team in hazmat suits
His worried family are claiming they fear they will have to cover the cost of cleaning the inside of the house and have now set up a fundraiser in a desperate bid to raise money
It is understood that a professional decontamination of the indoor areas has already been arranged, which is being led by the local authority. However, it remains unclear who is footing the bill.
Daughter-in-law Ellesha Gosling, 26, has set up a fundraiser in the hopes of covering the potential costs of disinfecting the property.
She said: 'I want to set up a GoFundMe page to help fund the clean up for dad.
'I am very reassured dad is well physically, very reassured, but I have been very worried in terms of his mental health.
'We've had some ups and downs, some very low lows. It has been very overwhelming.
'Dad can get more ducks, but he wont have the same rapport with them as he did with the others. They were his family.'
Ellesha added that the family has not yet looked too far into the future - and are taking it just one day at a time.
'[We will] be there for dad, keep in constant contact, and try and push to find a contractor to do the disinfection so we can go and see him,' she said, 'We need to keep pushing for answers.
'We want to know when they're going in and cleaning and disinfecting so we can see our father, and we want to know dad won't have to pay but at the minute we don't know that's the case.'
The family say it is unclear who will pay for the cleaning process. Teignbridge District Council have been approached for a comment.
A UK Health Security Agency spokesperson said: 'The district council will carry out decontamination of the property when the risk of onward transmission has been minimised.
The grandfather had described the ducks as his 'family' after adopting them and moving them into his property many years ago
A neighbour said Mr Gosling had tended the ducks for all the 10 years or so they had lived close by
'The person is being checked regularly to ensure their welfare is protected.'
An Animal and Plant Health Agency spokesperson said: 'Our sympathies remain with the owner and all those with animals affected by this terrible disease.'
Neighbours, who described Mr Gosling as 'eccentric' said they were not surprised the part-time clock repairer had caught the disease, given his close proximity to the animals.
'A friend of mine went into his house a while back to get a clock fixed,' said one local, 'and he described the place as being overrun with ducks – and their droppings everywhere.
'I guess it was only a matter of time before he caught something from them.'
Another neighbour said that Mr Gosling had tended the ducks for all the 10 years or so they had lived close by.
'He's devoted to the animals and I think it went from him feeding them in his garden by the river, to allowing them to cross the bridge to his property and then allowing them into his house.
A map of bird flu outbreaks in the UK recorded by the Government's Animal and Plant Health Agency (APHA). Map shows: Britain's 3km protection zones (blue circles) and 3km captive bird zones (dark pink circles) where all visitors, poultry and egg movements must be recorded by farmers and birds must be housed or isolated; 10km surveillance zones (black circles) where all visitors, poultry and egg movements must be recorded by farmers; and 10km restricted zones (light pink circles)
