Avian flu detected on a farm in Emsland
Bird flu has broken out on a turkey fattening farm with around 18,000 animals in Lorup (Emsland district). It is the highly contagious form, the influenza A virus, as a district spokeswoman announced on Friday. All turkeys on the affected farm had to be killed.
The district established a protection zone within a radius of three kilometers around the affected farm. In this area, eleven commercial farms with 258,830 animals and 20 hobby farmers with 950 animals are affected, the spokeswoman added. In addition, a surveillance zone will be set up within a radius of ten kilometers around the outbreak farm. A total of 124 commercial farms with over 4.1 million animals and 85 hobby farmers with just under 1500 animals are located in this zone. All transportation of live poultry and eggs is prohibited within the protection zone and the surveillance zone.
Avian influenza has been appearing in Germany again and again for years; it is introduced and spread by wild birds. It can cause major economic damage - if a flock is infected with the highly contagious variant, all the animals there are usually killed.
The outbreak of avian flu highlights the vulnerability of the agriculture sector, especially animal farms, to diseases. To prevent the spread of diseases, strict measures such as the prohibition of live poultry and egg transportation are implemented within the protection and surveillance zones.
Source: www.dpa.com
