Bird flu adds to woes of Dutch poultry farmers
The hague: Dutch poultry farmers, already left reeling by a contaminated egg scandal, were in a new flap over an outbreak of bird flu with thousands of hens to be destroyed.
“An outbreak of a variant of H5 bird flu has been detected in a poultry farm in Zeeland province,” Economic Affairs Minister Henk Kamp said.
All 42,000 egg-laying hens in the southern Netherlands farm will have to be culled “to stop the disease spreading” in accordance with European regulations, he added in a statement.
The ministry also ordered an immediate ban on the transportation of poultry, eggs, meat and manure within a one kilometre zone around the farm located in the village of Sint Philipsland. — AFP