October 26, 2020

Dutch poultry farmers keep their birds indoors after swan bird flu infections

Dutch poultry farmers complied with a government order to keep their birds indoors following a case of bird flu detected among two dead swans, Reuters reported.

A spokeswoman for the Dutch Agriculture Ministry said there is no end date for the order, but the virus has not been detected among commercial poultry.

The Netherlands has a EUR 1.6 billion (~US$1.9 billion; EUR 1 = US$1.18) poultry industry and is the biggest chicken meat and egg exporter in Europe. 10,000 people work in 2,000 farms in the country.

The University of Wageningen researches detected the H5N8 bird flu virus in the swans after Russia and Israel reported bird flu infections among swans this year.

The researchers said the virus entered the Netherlands possibly from other migratory birds, suggesting that the virus is circulating among wild birds in the country.

Eric Hubers, spokesman for the Netherlands' LTO agricultural industry group and a poultry farmer, said he supports the government order, adding that economic damage will depends on how long the birds are kept indoors.

This is because the birds will not qualify for the lucrative "free range" designation if it kept indoors for a period longer than 16 weeks.

Huber said farmers know how to shelter birds indoors to prevent bird flu transmissions after an outbreak in 2003. 30 million chickens in the Netherlands were culled that year. Subsequent bird flu outbreaks in 2014, 2016, and 2017 saw only modest consequences.

-      Reuters