Bird flu confirmed at another three Dutch poultry farms
Bird flu has been confirmed at three farms in Overijssel and Limburg, and one just across the border in Germany, the government reported on Wednesday. The virus is spreading rapidly through the Netherlands, bringing with it concerns about rising egg and poultry prices.
In Limburg, bird flu was found at poultry farms in Tienray and Helden, with a combined 270,000 birds. In Overijssel, a poultry farm in Bornerbroek with 18,000 chickens is affected. All the birds are being culled.
To prevent the diseases from spreading further, all poultry farms within a 10-kilometer radius of the infected farms are banned from transporting any chickens or eggs.
The latest announcements include an area in Limburg that borders Belgium and Germany, where bird flu incidents have been reported in recent days. This includes Kleve, in Germany, where the disease was found last week, and Goch, which was added to the list on Tuesday. The latter is just a 25-kilometer drive south to Tienray.
By continuing in the same direction for 30 kilometers, drivers will reach Helden. That Dutch town is a few dozen kilometers from the Belgian towns of Kinrooi and Pelt, both with cases of bird flu announced recently.
Other Dutch villages affected by bird flu include Bornerbroek in Overijssel, Terschuur in Gelderland, Holwierde in Groningen, and Streefkerk in Zuid-Holland. These four locations are much further away from each other, and the affected region around Limburg.
After an absence of around six months, bird flu reappeared in the Netherlands in October and has since spread to multiple farms, including one in the Gelderse Vallei - the heart of the Netherlands’ poultry sector. Due to the outbreaks, poultry farmers nationwide have to keep their birds indoors since October 16.
Due to the outbreaks, the already high prices for eggs, in particular, are expected to increase even further. Economists and industry groups warn that there may be shortages on supermarket shelves nationwide.
Caretaker Agriculture Minister Femke Wiersma is conducting a trial to vaccinate chickens against bird flu, but it is not a simple process. Large-scale vaccination can’t just be implemented because that will impact the exports of eggs and meat. “There are countries that prefer not to see that, like Japan and the United States,” she told the television program Goedemorgen Nederland.
