This month, birds were culled at three Dutch companies because of the bird flu. In Dalfsen in Overijssel, 88 thousand ducks were killed this week, and 105 thousand broiler chickens in Frisian Minnertsga. A transport ban applies to poultry farms within a radius of 10 kilometres. In addition, 550 ornamental chickens and water birds were culled at a small-scale farm in Watergang, North Holland. There are no other poultry farms in the area, but Artis Zoo is less than 10 kilometers away.
It is the worst bird flu season ever, according to the European Food Safety Agency (EFSA). Since October 2021, more than 5,000 outbreaks have been identified in 36 European countries, just under half of them in poultry farms, the rest in wild birds. A total of 46 million birds have been culled, of which 3.7 million in the Netherlands, mainly chickens. Most of the culls, more than 16 million, were in France. This mainly concerns ducks that are kept for the production of foie gras.
‘Never before has the virus circulated so vigorously, for a long time and extensively in wild bird populations,’ says the Ministry of Agriculture, Nature and Food Quality. Foresters and volunteers from Natuurmonumenten, for example, found more than a hundred dead birds floating in the water in the Zwarte Meer between Flevoland and Overijssel, such as mute swans, wild ducks and greylag geese. A dead young white-tailed eagle was recently found in the Voorsterbos in the Noordoostpolder, which turned out to have died of bird flu. Natuurmonumenten says that the government ‘doesn’t give a damn’ when it comes to tackling bird flu. It is especially unclear ‘by whom and how the dead birds must be disposed of responsibly’.
