AOnce again, thousands of animals have fallen victim to bird flu on the island of Rügen. After the pathogen was discovered in a farm in Gingst, all 72,000 animals at the affected farm were killed, a district spokeswoman said on Monday. These are laying hens.
According to the district, the introduction into the population probably took place after January 21st. The district has defined a restricted zone in which special precautionary measures apply. Poultry must be housed in stables and entrances and exits to poultry farms must be secured against unauthorized entry. Shoes, clothing, equipment or vehicles used in poultry farming must be cleaned and disinfected regularly. Any abnormalities, such as increased animal deaths, must be reported immediately.
Already several outbreaks this year
It was only at the beginning of the year that outbreaks in two farms in the Vorpommern-Rügen district became known; these were a smaller hobby farm in Stralsund and a laying hen farm with around 31,600 animals in the municipality of Poseritz on Rügen. These animals also had to be killed. In addition, another case became known at the beginning of January in a hobby poultry farm in northwest Mecklenburg.
Another outbreak was only discovered at the weekend in a commercial poultry farm in the Steinburg district (Schleswig-Holstein).
Bird flu, also known as avian influenza, spreads primarily through wild birds and has recently been detected all year round in Germany. It can cause great economic damage: If a herd is infected with the highly contagious variant, all animals there are usually killed.
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