Israel killed 25,000 turkeys after an outbreak of the highly pathogenic H5N1 strain of bird flu on a turkey farm in Nahalal, the World Organisation for Animal Health (OIE) said on Friday.
The outbreak killed 100 turkeys at the farm in the north of Israel. As a precaution to prevent the disease from spreading, 25,000 turkeys at the farm were killed, the OIE said, citing a report from the Israeli authorities.
Avian influenza, or bird flu, usually only affects birds, but there have been some cases of the virus jumping to humans. In July, an 11-year-old boy died in India from the H5N1 strain of bird flu.
This year, countries in Europe, Asia and Africa have had bird flu outbreaks. So far, the only solution governments have when bird flu is detected at a farm is to kill all animals around the infected animals.
Animal rights activists have long asked to reconsider the bird farming industry to prevent emerging diseases and for animal welfare reasons.
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