Agriculture Minister Henk Staghouwer calls it ‘worrying’ that the bird flu virus is still spreading. He wrote in a letter to the House of Representatives that ‘the situation is not improving and that the deaths of wild birds continue unabated’.
Bird flu was diagnosed three times after 15 July at the Drents-Overijssel provincial border. This happened around Dalfsen, at companies with meat ducks, broiler breeders and laying hens. All birds on the affected farms have been culled.
Research has shown that wild birds are believed to have caused the outbreak. A dead stork was found at the beef duck company, which may be related to the established bird flu. That is ‘disturbing’, according to Staghouwer. “This again concerns a new bird species, which can also occur in large parts of the Netherlands. These developments show the unpredictability of the distribution.” At least forty storks succumbed to bird flu at the stork station De Lokkerij near de Wijk.
Bird flu is normally no longer found in the summer, but “after an autumn and winter with an exceptionally high number of infections”, infections are still found in both wild birds and poultry farms, the minister reports in a letter to parliament.
Since the end of October last year, there has been an obligation to keep chicken farmers and other poultry farmers. At the end of June this was withdrawn in a number of regions, including Drenthe. The experts who advise the cabinet see no reason to further relax the rules. The partial confinement obligation therefore remains in effect.