Soldiers begin culling 71,000 birds after latest bird flu outbreak

Soldiers and fire-fighters have begun destroying thousands of chickens at two poultry farms in East Bohemia, after tests confirmed the presence of the H5N1 type of bird flu virus. The two cases were within a few kilometres of the country's first outbreaks in June of last year at two similar farms.

Photo: CTK

Fireman and soldiers have begun the grim process of rounding up and gassing some 71,000 birds at two farms in East Bohemia, standard procedure for dealing with outbreaks of H5N1 at poultry farms. The farms are located in a village called Netreby and in the town of Chocen, some 140 kilometres east of Prague, and the birds were mostly being used for egg production. Radek Axmann is the local veterinary official.

"At the moment there are about 17,000 birds at the Netreby farm and around 54,000 birds at Chocen. They'll be put down in the same way as in the previous two outbreaks - carbon dioxide."

Photo: CTK

The outbreaks at Netreby and Chocen occurred within the 10km surveillance zone set up last year following the country's first outbreaks in poultry in the nearby villages of Norin and Tisova. Veterinary officials have now extended the standard 3-km protection zone and 10-km surveillance zone to include the two farms where the latest outbreaks occurred. As well as the 71,000 chickens belonging to the two farms, a further 750 birds belonging to small breeders will have to be destroyed.

Officials believe the virus spread after breeders failed to conform to the strict hygiene regulations put in place after the first outbreak last year. As well as the four outbreaks at poultry farms, veterinary officials found the H5N1 virus in 14 dead swans last year, with another swan testing positive for the deadly strain of bird flu last month.