A Danish poultry farm near the German border is set to cull approximately 2,700 pheasants after the bird flu was detected, as the Danish Veterinary and Food Administration reported on Wednesday.
The cull was ordered due to animal welfare concerns and to limit the risk of infection spread.
While it is rare for bird flu viruses to infect humans, the agency has called on farmers and hobby breeders in the area to move their animals into covered enclosures and feed them there as a precautionary measure.
Moreover, breeders should avoid contact with wild animals and ensure they clean their clothes and boots before attending to their birds.
The pheasant farm in question is located near the town of Tønder, situated just across the border from Germany.
The Danish agency has implemented a protection zone and a surveillance zone within a radius of 3 and 10 kilometres respectively.
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The measures include prohibiting poultry exhibitions and strict monitoring of poultry and its products’ movements and will be implemented for the initial 30 days.
The Danish agency suspects that the pheasants may have been infected by wild birds that stopped off in the area during their autumn migration southwards.
As the surveillance zone extends across the German border, the authorities in the German state of Schleswig-Holstein have been alerted to take the necessary steps.
