Bird flu: Suspected birds slaughtered on new British farm

By JERUSALEM POST STAFF
Poultry were being slaughtered at another British farm after a suspected outbreak of bird flu, the government said Wednesday. The Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs said the site was within a surveillance zone set up after the disease was confirmed on a nearby farm earlier this month. Two outbreaks of the deadly H5N1 strain of bird flu have been confirmed in eastern England, and thousands of turkeys, ducks and geese have been killed as a precaution. Bird flu's return to Britain - weeks before the Christmas holidays - has been another blow to Britain's farmers, already struggling after livestock herds were hit earlier this year by foot-and-mouth and bluetongue diseases. Millions of birds worldwide have died or been slaughtered since late 2003, when H5N1 began ravaging Asian poultry stocks. It has killed at least 206 people worldwide since 2003.