Dutch to cull around 44,000 turkeys to contain bird flu

[October 24, 2022]  AMSTERDAM (Reuters) - Dutch health authorities were overseeing the cull of around 44,000 turkeys on a farm in the south of the country after the detection of a highly infectious strain of bird flu, the government said on Saturday.

The farm is in the town of Hedel, 50 km southeast of Utrecht. A transport ban was imposed on ten additional nearby farms, the Agriculture Ministry said in a statement.

More than a dozen cases of the highly lethal form of avian flu have been reported in the Netherlands in the past month, following dozens of cases earlier in the year.

France has also seen a resurgence in cases after experiencing its worst-ever bird flu wave earlier this year.

(Reporting by Toby Sterling; Editing by Kirsten Donovan)

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