March 3, 2014
Netherlands' Flevoland farm culls 40,000 chickens on suspected bird flu outbreak
Following a suspected bird flu outbreak at a Swifterbant poultry farm in Flevoland province, the Netherlands, about 40,000 chickens have been culled.
The economic affairs ministry said that the birds may have the relatively harmless H5 version of the disease but have been slaughtered as a precaution.
The H5 strain is highly contagious and can mutate easily, the ministry statement said.
The movement of poultry and poultry manure to and from the farm has been banned within a one kilometre radius. There are no other poultry farms nearby, the ministry said.
