PARIS – France will cull around 600,000 poultry birds as it tries to contain an avian influenza virus that is spreading among duck flocks in the southwest of the country, the farm ministry said on Tuesday.
France has already slaughtered around 200,000 poultry and plans to cull a further 400,000 birds, a farm ministry official said.
The culls include flocks where outbreaks occurred, as well as preventive slaughtering of birds in surrounding areas.
As of Jan. 1, France had confirmed 61 outbreaks of the H5N8 virus, of which 48 were in the southwestern Landes region, the farm ministry said in an earlier website update. (Reuters)
