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Almost a quarter of a million birds will die on a farm in New Wales in an attempt to stop the spread of bird flu in the state.
The orders come after bird flu was caught at a mixed barn and free-range poultry farm in the Hawkesbury district, northwest of Sydney.
WATCH VIDEO ABOVE: Commercial egg farms in Hawkesbury are on lockdown
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The highly contagious and deadly strain of the H7N8 virus has already killed 8,000 birds at the facility in the past 48 hours, the state government said in a statement on Thursday.
More than one million chickens and ducks are also set to die in Victoria after the highly pathogenic H7N3 strain was detected on multiple properties across the state this week.
NSW officials have engaged the state’s biosecurity emergency plan, sending the farm into quarantine and triggering traffic controls in the area.
A control order was also issued to depopulate the farm of its birds “in a humane manner” and safely dispose of the remains.
It will take up to a week to destroy the 240,000 birds on the farm.
Another control order to legally block the movement of machinery, materials, animals and transport within a 2km radius around the affected egg farm will be issued later on Thursday.
The lockdown order will cover three other commercial poultry farms with up to 355,000 birds, which will be monitored for any signs of the virus.
Affected producers will be compensated through a funding arrangement with the Commonwealth, the egg industry and other countries.
“No reason to panic”
Agriculture Minister Tara Moriarty said people should not worry about eggs and poultry products from supermarkets, saying the discovery did not mean there was a risk to public health.
Prime Minister Chris Minnes called for calm, saying he did not expect any supply challenges.
“There is no reason to panic about this,” he told reporters.
“The information we have received from the experts tasked with creating quarantine and ensuring the safety of agricultural products is that it is contained in this one site.”
Health Minister Ryan Park said the virus does not spread easily between people or from an animal to a person.
“It manifests like many other flus and provides the flu-like symptoms that people get,” he said.
“We just have to stay calm about it … NSW Health and Primary Industries are working together on the situation.”
Both strains found in Australia differ from the H5N1 strain that has infected billions of wild and farmed animals worldwide, raising concerns about human transmission.
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