An animal health order has been issued by the Dutch food and product safety board NVWA after two new cases of highly pathogenic avian influenza (bird flu) were confirmed on sites in the northern villages of Zuidwolde and Wildervank. The order limits the transport and comingling of poultry, the Dagblad van het Noorden reports.
A 3 km protection zone and 10 km surveillance zone have been placed around each affected premise. In order to prevent the spread of the contagious viral disease, 28,000 broilers on the Zuidwolde farm and 15,000 hens at an egg-laying operation in Wildervank have been culled by the safety board officials.
The new bird flu cases, confirmed in the Drenthe and Groningen villages, have deepened concerns for the region’s threatened poultry farms.
The Netherlands is in the grip of a major outbreak of avian influenza, with around 4 million poultry and captive birds having been euthanized since the outbreak began last October, the government veterinary officers have said.
