DUTCH TO CULL AROUND 44,000 TURKEYS AMID BIRD FLU EPIDEMIC

Sat 22 October 2022:

Following the discovery of a highly infectious strain of bird flu, Dutch health authorities were overseeing the cull of approximately 44,000 turkeys on a farm in the country’s south, the government said on Saturday.

The farm is located in Hedel, 50 kilometers southeast of Utrecht. A transport ban has been imposed on ten additional nearby farms, according to a statement from the Agriculture Ministry.

Following dozens of cases earlier this year, the Netherlands has reported more than a dozen cases of the highly lethal form of avian flu in the last month.

300,000 chickens

The Netherlands is to cull another 300,000 chickens on a farm in the south of the country after the detection of a highly infectious strain of bird flu there, the government said on Thursday.

Around 30 cases of the highly lethal form of avian flu have been reported in the Netherlands since early September, following dozens of cases earlier in the year.

Almost 6 million birds have already been culled in the Netherlands since the new variant of the disease was first detected on Oct 26 last year, the Dutch food safety authority said on Thursday.

UK and Europe

During the past year, approximately 48 million birds have been culled due to the largest avian influenza outbreak across the UK and Europe on record. In the UK alone, around 160 cases of the highly pathogenic avian influenza (HPAI) have been detected in poultry and captive birds, resulting in 3.2 million birds being culled. Unless strong mitigation measures are implemented, the outbreak will likely continue to spread.

SOURCE: INDEPENDENT PRESS AND NEWS AGENCIES

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