The re-emergence of avian flu has been confirmed at a farm in Hampshire, following on from last year’s Yorkshire outbreak.
“Robust action is being taken to prevent any spread of the disease,” said the Animal and Plant Health Agency (APHA), who also said the new case was “low severity”.
A 1km poultry movement restriction zone has been imposed around the affected farm, while the birds at the commercial chicken breeding farm are to be culled as part of APHA’s “tried and tested procedures for responding swiftly and thoroughly when an outbreak occurs”.
“We have taken immediate action to contain this outbreak as part of our robust procedures for dealing swiftly with avian flu,” said chief vet, Nigel Gibbens. “This is a low severity form of the virus and we are taking action to ensure that the disease does not spread or develop into a more severe form. We are investigating the possible sources of the outbreak.”
The Yorkshire outbreak, in addition to its obvious impact of poultry businesses in the county, also resulted in restricted stock movements for others farms, including a small number pig production units.