More than 130,000 chickens are slaughtered in avian flu outbreak in Spain

Spanish authorities culled more than 130,000 chickens after an outbreak of bird flu was detected in an intensive farming operation in the northern region of Castile and Leon.said local officials.

An industrial loader collected thousands of chicken carcasses and dumped them onto an open truck, which took them to a burning site outside the farm, footage provided by Greenpeace on Friday showed.

“Appropriate slaughter and disposal measures for the remains of all animals have been taken at the farm, which remains isolated,” the local association of veterinarians said in a statement Thursday.

Authorities have imposed a 10km isolation area around the farm, which is on the outskirts of the village of Iscar in Valladolid province, about 130km northwest of Madrid, but say there is little danger to humans.

“The possibility of transfer to humans is extraordinarily rare and therefore not a matter of great concern to us,” said Castile and Leon regional government spokesman Carlos Fernandez Carriedo.

Outbreaks of the virus, which are often transmitted by wild migratory birds to domestic animals, have been reported in France, Germany, Britain, the Netherlands and Serbia.

Spain has detected five smaller outbreaks on farms and a dozen in wild populations so far this year, according to the Agriculture Ministry.

A spokesperson for the Spanish association of veterinarians said it is not surprising that the virus has reached Spain, as the Iberian Peninsula is in the path of many migratory birds.

But Greenpeace said industrial farming practices amplify the risk of the disease spreading, fueling an ongoing debate in Spain about the economic and social costs of intensive farming.

“It is urgent to end this destructive model that is putting the health of the planet and people at risk,” he said.

Source: CNN Brasil

You may also like