Admin I Thursday, Nov. 22, 2023
DENMARK – About 2,700 pheasants will be culled on a Danish poultry farm near the German border after bird flu was detected, the Danish Veterinary and Food Administration said on Wednesday.
The cull was ordered out of animal welfare concerns and to limit the risk of the spread of infection. Bird-flu viruses only rarely infect humans.
The agency called on farmers and hobby breeders in the area to move their animals into covered enclosures and feed them there.
It also recommended that contact with wild animals be avoided and breeders should clean their clothes and boots before going to their birds. The affected pheasant farm is located near the town of Tønder, just across the border with Germany.
A protection zone and a surveillance zone have been set up within a radius of 3 kilometres and 10 kilometres respectively. Rules include a prohibition on poultry exhibitions and strict monitoring of the movements of poultry and poultry products. The measures initially apply for 30 days.
The Danish agency believes the pheasants may have been infected by wild birds that stopped off in the area during their autumn migration southwards.
As the surveillance zone extends across the German border, the authorities in German state of Schleswig-Holstein have been informed so that they can take their own steps, the agency said.
