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The Czech Republic has begun culling over 70,000 farm birds following the detection of avian influenza at two commercial farms, the country’s veterinary authorities confirmed on Wednesday.
State Veterinary Administration (SVS) spokesman Petr Majer said firefighters and farm staff were using carbon dioxide to carry out the culls.
The operation started in the southern village of Valdikov, where 18,000 week-old ducks and 2,500 adult ducks were infected.
The culling will continue on Thursday at a farm in the central town of Lanskroun, where around 40,000 hens and 13,000 cocks are due to be destroyed.
Extraordinary preventative measures have been put in place within a 10-kilometre radius of the affected farms, including restrictions on poultry movement, mandatory registration of all birds, and bans on mass events such as bird exhibitions or exchanges.
Bird flu has been confirmed this year on three commercial and 17 non-commercial farms, as well as in wildfowl in eight locations across the country.
In 2024, more than 250,000 birds were culled in the Czech Republic after the disease spread to 10 large commercial farms and 43 smaller operations.
The current outbreak is part of a wider surge in avian influenza across Europe. Germany, for example, had already culled more than half a million birds by the end of October.
The Europe-wide animal disease tracking system ADIS has recorded 139 outbreaks in poultry farms between July 1 and November 5, with Spain, the UK, Germany, and France also imposing measures such as indoor confinement and culling.
