Bird flu has been diagnosed at a chicken farmer in Lunteren, the government reported on Sunday morning. The company has to cull 5000 laying hens to prevent the virus from spreading. The farm is located in an area where much more poultry is kept. The outbreak therefore has major consequences for companies in the region.
For example, animals at seven more poultry farms have to be culled, because they are located within a 1 kilometer zone of the affected farm in Lunteren. There is also an immediate transport ban for 235 poultry farms located within a radius of 10 kilometers of the infection, for two weeks.
As a result of this ban, farmers are roughly not allowed to transport birds or eggs. Bird manure and used litter must also remain in the stables, the Ministry of Agriculture, Nature and Food Quality said in a news item.
National measures
According to the ministry, national measures are still in place. For example, there is still a confinement obligation for poultry farms and not everyone is allowed to visit a poultry farm just like that.
Thirty other poultry farms are located in a zone of 3 kilometers around the infected farm. The Netherlands Food and Consumer Product Safety Authority (NVWA) will continue to closely monitor these farmers for the next two weeks. They pay attention to symptoms of disease in animals.
Not the first time
It is not the first time that bird flu has broken out in Lunteren, the epicenter of poultry farming. For example, in May and April this year, after several outbreaks, at least hundreds of thousands of chickens were culled as a precaution. Agriculture Minister Henk Staghouwer said at the time that the number of poultry farms in Lunteren and Barneveld is far too large and that this must be rigorously reduced.
See below how poultry was culled earlier.
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