France plans to slaughter 600,000 birds in an effort to prevent the spread of the bird flu that infects duck flocks in part of the country, health officials said Tuesday.
Nearly 200,000 poultry birds have already been culled, an agriculture ministry official said, in an effort to control the H5N8 virus, which is not known to be communicable to humans.
On January 1, France had confirmed 61 avian flu outbreaks. Forty-eight of them were located in the southwest of Landes, according to the Ministry of Agriculture.
Culling includes preventive killing of birds in the areas surrounding the outbreak to limit the transition to farm flocks.
Duck farming in the Landes is used to supply the foie gras industry.
The Ministry of Health said other parts of France appear to be in control of the virus.
With pole wires