Philippines to cull 400,000 birds

The Philippines plans to cull 400,000 chickens, quails and ducks after confirming the country’s first outbreak of bird flu, Agriculture Secretary Emmanuel Pinol said yesterday. The avian flu outbreak was detected at a farm in a town in Pampanga province, north of the capital here, which later spread to neighbouring farms. There had been no case of human transmission so far, Pinol said. “We will cull 400,000 birds within a 1km radius. We don’t want diseases to spread,” Pinol said.