Germany culling some
55,000 poultry as bird flu found on farms
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[December 27, 2016]
HAMBURG (Reuters) - The culling of
about 55,000 turkeys, chickens and ducks is underway after bird flu of
the highly contagious H5N8 strain was found on farms in a major poultry
production region in the north German state of Lower Saxony, authorities
said on Tuesday.
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Poultry culling on the three farms where H5N8 was found and three
others which had contact with them was started over the Christmas
weekend and should be completed on Tuesday, the Lower Saxony
agriculture ministry said in a statement.
A 72 hour standstill order has been issued banning the sale and
transport of poultry from the latest area involved, the ministry
said.
The contagious H5N8 strain has been found in more than 500 wild
birds in Germany in recent weeks. Outbreaks on farms have been rare
after the government introduced tough sanitary rules to prevent
infection by wild birds, including orders to keep poultry indoors in
high-risk regions.
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Several European countries and Israel have found cases of H5N8 bird
flu in the past few weeks and some ordered poultry flocks be kept
indoors to prevent the disease spreading. France has widened
high-risk restrictions to the entire country after the detection of
several cases of the H5N8 strain.
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South Korea has mobilized its armed forces to help in its
biggest-ever poultry cull as the spread of a highly contagious
strain bird flu continued, with another 1.6 million birds be
destroyed in affected areas.
(Reporting by Michael Hogan, editing by)
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