Tokyo, Nov. 5, (dpa/GNA) – Japanese authorities are set to slaughter about 330,000 chickens at a poultry farm in western Japan on Thursday after detecting a bird flu outbreak.
The culling operation will begin at the farm in the city of Mitoyo after the Kagawa prefectural government confirmed Japan’s first outbreak of H5 avian influenza this season.
The farm reported local government officials on Wednesday after it found an increasing number of chicken deaths.
The outbreak prompted the prefectural government to restrict the movements of poultry and eggs in areas near the farm.
The central government “will take sufficient measures to prevent the spread of infection,” Chief Cabinet Secretary Katsunobu Kato said at a meeting on the outbreak.
GNA