Czech authorities will kill 80,000 chickens at a farm, the state veterinary office said Tuesday. Since last week, over 100,000 animals have died of bird flu at the farm, according to the office.
Before Christmas, the farm in Libotenice, about 45 kilometres (28 miles) north of Prague, had a total of 188,000 female chickens, who were used for the egg industry.
“The numbers show that this strain, the highly pathogenic H5N1, is very aggressive and kills hens in particular fast and on a mass scale,” State Veterinary Administration spokesman Petr Majer told news agency AFP. He added that over a million eggs from the farm would also be destroyed.
Bird flu outbreaks in the Czech Republic have reached 48 this year, the most ever in a calendar year. The disease is currently plaguing Europe and Asia, affecting animals and humans.
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