06.11.2014

Germany to slaughter 31,000 turkeys after avian influenza detected.
Some 31,000 turkeys were set to be slaughtered on Thursday after H5N8 avian influenza strain was discovered in north-eastern Germany at a farm in Heinrichswalde, in Mecklenburg-Vorpommern - its first confirmed case on the European continent.
Increased mortality was observed in one of the six sheds of 15 week old birds for fattening (total number of turkeys on the premises ~ 31,000 of which each shed contained 5,000).
South Korea had to slaughter millions of farm birds to try to contain an outbreak of H5N8 there.
China and Japan also reported cases of the H5N8 virus earlier this year.
Germany had not been hit by a highly pathogenic form of avian influenza since 2009.