Netherlands to cull over 35,000 broilers after bird flu detected
Animal health authorities in the Netherlands will cull 35,700 broiler chickens after a highly contagious strain of bird flu was found on a farm.
29 October 2020
3 minute read
By: Reuters reports that the farm site is in Altforst, in the central Netherlands.
The discovery comes just days after a pair of wild swans tested positive for the H5N8 virus. Dutch poultry farmers had been ordered to keep their birds indoors to prevent them from contracting the illness from wild fowl.
Poultry is a €1.6 billion ($1.9 billion) industry in the Netherlands, Europe's largest exporter of chicken meat and eggs, employing 10,000 people on 2,000 farms.
A transportation ban was imposed for eggs, live birds and other farm products within a 10-km (6-mile) radius of the infected farm in the town of Altforst. There are 25 poultry farms in the area, a statement said.
Authorities were also testing for the disease at other poultry businesses within a 3-km radius.
