Turkish authorities began slaughtering poultry at farms near a western village as a precaution Sunday, a day after the agriculture minister confirmed
By JERUSALEM POST STAFF
Turkish authorities began slaughtering poultry at farms near a western village as a precaution Sunday, a day after the agriculture minister confirmed the country's first bird flu case at a turkey farm in the region, news reports said.
Military police set up roadblocks at the entrance to a quarantined village near Balikesir, western Turkey, checking all vehicles entering and exiting.
Bird flu was detected at a turkey farm after some 1,800 birds died this week, the Anatolia news agency reported. All animals in the farm were destroyed.
The outbreak was confirmed by Agriculture Minister Mehdi Eker on Saturday and his ministry said it believed the disease had spread from migratory birds that land at the nearby Manyas Bird Sanctuary, on their way to Africa from the Ural mountains in Russia. Manyas is some 10 kilometers away from the turkey farm where the disease was detected.