UK Bird Flu Cull Widens to 22K

Culling seen as precautionary; no sign of disease spreading
By Sam Gale Rosen,  Newser Staff
Posted Nov 14, 2007 12:43 PM CST
UK Bird Flu Cull Widens to 22K
Police guard the entrance to a farm near Diss in Suffolk, England, Wednesday, Nov. 14, 2007. Over 20,000 birds are being culled as a precaution after the virulent H5N1 strain of bird flu was found in turkeys on a farm near Diss in Suffolk, England. (AP Photo/Kirsty Wigglesworth)   (Associated Press)

Some 22,000 more birds are being killed in Britain after an outbreak of bird flu on a turkey farm in Suffolk, northeast of London. The cull has been extended to four nearby sites, although the disease has only been detected at the first farm. "This is a precautionary measure taken to prevent any spread of the disease," an official tells the BBC.

All farms lie within the six-mile "surveillance zone" of the first site, and there are 4 million birds within that area. Authorities have set up a nearby control center, and have alerted farmers all over the country. A representative does not foresee a holiday turkey shortage: "This is a disease on the one farm, and I don't think it is going to get out and kill 5 million birds." (More avian flu stories.)

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