Netherlands culls a further 300,000 chickens amid bird flu epidemic

cde.news desk 20 October 2022, 10:20 · 1 min read

Thousands of chickens live in this large place where their main function is to lay eggs. Located in Monroe County. Original image from Carol M. Highsmith’s America, Library of Congress collection. Digitally enhanced by rawpixel. by Carol M Highsmith is licensed under CC-CC0 1.0

AMSTERDAM, Oct 20 (Reuters) – The Netherlands is to cull another 300,000 chickens on a farm in the south of the country after the detection of a highly infectious strain of bird flu there, the government said on Thursday.

Around 30 cases of the highly lethal form of avian flu have been reported in the Netherlands since early September, following dozens of cases earlier in the year.

Almost 6 million birds have already been culled in the Netherlands since the new variant of the disease was first detected on Oct 26 last year, the Dutch food safety authority said on Thursday.

France has also seen a resurgence in cases in recent weeks after experiencing its worst-ever bird flu wave earlier this year.

(Reporting by Bart Meijer, Editing by Angus MacSwan)