Italy culls 4 million birds due to AI
Four million birds in Italian commercial farms have been culled in the last few days due to numerous bird flu outbreaks reported in the country. Official sources from the Venice Zooprophylactic Institute confirmed that many of the birds exterminated are broilers in large commercial farms hit by avian influenza (AI) last week. The situation in Italy comes as many other European countries, such as France, the UK, the Netherlands, Switzerland, Hungary, Poland and Bulgaria, have reported similar outbreaks in bird farms.
In Bulgaria, 80,000 birds have been culled over the weekend after an outbreak was reported at an industrial farm in the southern village of Tsalapitsa, according to the country's food safety agency. The farm has been hit by the highly pathogenic avian influenza type A, the agency said.
In Hungary, 5,000 turkeys on a farm in the county of Bekes were killed last week due to an outbreak of the highly pathogenic H5N1 bird flu virus.
Three weeks ago more than 38,000 ducks were slaughtered on one farm, as well as around 500 geese on a second farm due to a bird flu outbreak in the southern Bacs-Kiskun region.
France also confirmed last week the existence of the virus on a poultry farm close to the Belgian border. All birds at the affected farm in the northwestern town of Warhem have been killed and a 10-kilometer surveillance perimeter has been set up, with all movement of poultry prohibited in the area.
Part of the circumscribed area is in the Belgian province of West Flanders. Belgium's Federal Agency for the Safety of the Food Chain today adopted additional measures for the towns of De Panne, Veurne, Alveringem and Poperinge. Poultry farmers and private owners must keep birds caged, and poultry shows and markets are prohibited.
Authorities in the UK also reported 5 outbreaks on commercial farms and bird-keepers across the kingdom have been ordered to move their flocks inside in order to prevent the spreading of the virus. Three outbreaks have been reported in the last 30 days by authorities in Ireland. In Poland, more than 25 outbreaks have been reported by authorities in November and the industry may face another bad season due to restrictions imposed by countries outside the EU. Poland is also the largest poultry producer in the EU, with a market share of 19%.
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