France has detected bird flu on a chicken farm in the north of the country, the farm ministry said on Saturday. All chickens at the farm will be killed.
The outbreak follows avian influenza outbreaks in Switzerland, Hungria, Austria and Slovakia. In the past month, bird flu had already been detected in France in backyard and wild birds.
The government ordered farmers to keep their chickens, turkeys, ducks and geese inside. This means that the animals who already have little space to move won’t see any daylight. Many farm animals in France are already forced to live like this, but some farmers do allow their animals to go outside.
Last winter, France killed over 3 million ducks in its southwestern duck-breeding region, where foie gras is made by force-feeding ducks with a tube stuck down their throat.
So far, more than 43 million birds, farm and wild, have been killed by authorities in Europe, Africa and Asia. Experts are also worried about the rise in humans being infected by bird flu.
The Animal Reader is a small, independent news platform with daily posts about issues affecting animals.
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