National obligation to keep poultry in cages due to bird flu | Inland

A highly contagious variant of bird flu (H5), which leads to serious illness or death in birds, was found at a poultry farm in Zeewolde. The 36,000 animals on the farm are culled by the Dutch Food and Consumer Product Safety Authority.

But the virus has already surfaced in other places. “In view of the outbreak in Zeewolde, increasing finds of dead wild birds in the northern Netherlands and infected wild birds in Germany, Minister Schouten is introducing a national obligation to keep poultry kept commercially,” the ministry said. “This is done to reduce the risk of introducing the bird flu virus from wild birds to companies in the Netherlands.”

Zoos, petting zoos and hobby bird keepers should shield their animals to prevent them from coming into contact with sick wild birds.

An earlier confinement obligation was lifted for the entire country at the beginning of July. In many regions, commercial chicken farmers had to keep their poultry indoors for months.

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