Some 30,000 birds are culled after bird flu hit poultry farm in northern Germany

Record ID: 79314

  • Title: Some 30,000 birds are culled after bird flu hit poultry farm in northern Germany
  • Date: 12th November 2016
  • Summary: TWEDT, GERMANY (NOVEMBER 12, 2016) (REUTERS) POLICE CAR AND AFFECTED FARM IN BACKGROUND (NO CLOSE IMAGES BECAUSE OF 3 KM RESTRICTED AREA AROUND IT) MORE OF FARM (SOUNDBITE) (German) SPOKESPERSON OF POLICE FLENSBURG, FRANZISKA JURGA, SAYING: "We have about 3,000 hens here that have died. For the prevention of an animal epidemic all other laying hens have to culled. And that will probably happen tomorrow." VARIOUS OF FARM IN DISTANCE (SOUNDBITE) (German) SPOKESPERSON OF POLICE FLENSBURG, FRANZISKA JURGA, SAYING: "About the virus, it has not been contagious to humans so far. But nevertheless, we need to play it safe, and that's why we are here and cordon off the access road to the farm. Just to be on the safe side." VARIOUS OF TOWN SIGN AND SIGN FOR BIRD FLU UNDERNEATH
  • Embargoed: 27th November 2016 17:11
  • Keywords: bird flu epidemic Germany poultry farm
  • Location: TWEDT, GERMANY
  • City: TWEDT, GERMANY
  • Country: Germany
  • Topics: Health/Medicine
  • Reuters ID: LVA0015851YYV
  • Aspect Ratio: 16:9
  • Story Text: Bird flu has been reported at a poultry farm in the northern German region of Schleswig-Flensburg with more than 30,000 birds affected.
    The national reference laboratory, the Friedrich-Loeffler institute, has confirmed the H5N8, a severe strain of bird flu, to be affecting the farm, where all 36,000 hens have to culled, the police confirmed.
    "For the prevention of an animal epidemic all other laying hens have to culled," said Franziska Jurga of the Flensburg police. "That's what will probably happen tomorrow."
    The virus was already reported in two other poultry farms in Mecklenburg-Western Pomerania and Schleswig-Holstein. Wild birds having died from the virus have been found in Schleswig-Holstein, Baden-Wuerttemberg, Bavaria and Mecklenburg-Vorpommern. Officials reacted with a widening of the obligation to keep poultry indoors in order to prevent infection.
    Several European countries have reported outbreaks of a severe strain of bird flu, the World Organisation for Animal Health said on Thursday while France raised safety checks to counter the virus which can have a major impact on farmers.
    The World Health Organisation for Animal Health (OIE) said Austria, Croatia and Switzerland had all officially reported the outbreaks, which concerned a particularly virulent strain affecting wild birds.
    Though the H5N8 virus is highly contagious in birds, it has never been found in humans.
    It had been found in several European Union countries in 2014 and led to massive poultry cullings.
    France, the European Union's largest agricultural producer, had at one stage imposed stricter controls and banned duck and goose production in 17 administrative departments, to contain an earlier outbreak of the bird flu virus.
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