March 7, 2006

Russian poultry farm loses 10,000 birds to disease
 

A mass death of birds has been reported at a poultry farm in the Stavropol territory in the western part of Russia, where 10 percent of the 100,000 birds at the farm have died in the past two days, officials said.

The farm was one of ten large poultry farms in the mainly agricultural and mining region near Turkey and Ukraine.

Preliminary investigations indicate the deaths were caused by Newcastle disease. However, bird flu has not been ruled out as the final report is pending.

The poultry farm has been quarantined and veterinary services are implementing measures for combating bird flu: the poultry farm was disinfected and dead birds were burnt.

Four bird flu cases were discovered in Stavropol in February, the first case of mass death of birds at Stavropol poultry farms.