Some 55,000 chickens will have to be killed following an outbreak of bird flu at a poultry farm in Biddinghuizen, Flevoland, the agriculture ministry has said.
There will be a 10-kilometre transport exclusion zone around the farm to prevent the virus from spreading. No eggs or birds from the farm are allowed to leave the area for a month.
No manure or used bedding may be transported from the 25 other poultry farms in the area, and farmers must keep their chickens indoors to prevent them from coming into contact with wild birds.
The measures fall short of a national ban on free-roaming chickens, which had been suspended just three weeks ago following a lull in the number of cases. The ban, in place since October last year, now only affects the Gelderse Vallei, an area with many poultry farms.
At the moment, the outbreak in Biddinghuizen does not justify another nationwide ban, the ministry said.
According to ministry figures from December last year, nearly 1.6 million birds have been killed so far in an effort to contain the ongoing bird flu epidemic.
Thank you for donating to DutchNews.nl.
We could not provide the Dutch News service, and keep it free of charge, without the generous support of our readers. Your donations allow us to report on issues you tell us matter, and provide you with a summary of the most important Dutch news each day.
Make a donation
