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Bird flu cull ends

18/11/2007

Government officials have finished slaughtering over 28,000 birds in a bid to prevent Britain's latest outbreak of avian flu spreading further.

The Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs (Defra) announced this morning that culling operations had been completed on four premises.

In total around 28,600 birds were culled on the four premises classified as "dangerous contacts". One of the four premises was reclassified as a "slaughter on suspicion" grounds.

A Defra statement said: "Laboratory tests on samples from these premises are underway. There is no timetable for when the results will be received. The epidemiological investigation is ongoing."

The precautionary measure was taken after the virus was confirmed as the "highly pathogenic H5N1 strain" of bird flu, which can be fatal to humans.

Strict movement restrictions remain in place as the government works to prevent the disease spreading. A 3km protection zone and 10km surveillance zone remain in place alongside a wider restricted zone covering all of Suffolk and most of Norfolk.

In February a bird flu outbreak at a Bernard Matthews farm in Suffolk led to the culling of 160,000 turkeys.

Subsequent outbreaks of foot-and-mouth disease and bluetongue disease have placed the UK agricultural industry under great pressure. National Farmers' Union president Peter Kendall has described the latest case of bird flu as a "huge blow" to farmers.