Germany culls over 16,000 turkeys after bird flu confirmed on farm
Germany has ordered around 16,100 turkeys to be culled after bird flu was found on another poultry farm.
17 November 2020
3 minute read
By: Reuters reports that H5N8 avian influenza was confirmed in a farm on the island of Ruegen in the eastern state of Mecklenburg-Vorpommern.
Wild birds are believed to be spreading the disease, with some 23 cases of bird flu recorded in wild birds on Ruegen since the end of October, the local authority said.
A series of outbreaks of bird flu have been reported in Germany and elsewhere in Europe in past weeks with wild birds also suspected of spreading the disease.
Dutch health officials on 10 November ordered the culling of 48,000 chickens after bird flu was discovered on a farm in the province of Groningen.
Britain ordered a cull of 13,000 birds at a farm in northwest England after detecting cases there.
The risk to humans from the disease is low, but past outbreaks among farm birds have needed extensive slaughtering programmes to contain them.
