Poultry cull at four more farms over bird flu fears

POULTRY on four new farms are to be culled amid growing concerns last night that they could have been exposed to the deadly H5N1 bird flu that infected a flock of turkeys in East Anglia.

The birds are being slaughtered as a precautionary measure on four sites that are operated by the same company as the free-range rearing unit in Suffolk, at the centre of the outbreak.

The farms were assessed by the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs (DEFRA) as having “dangerous contact” with the initial outbreak because staff on the farm at Redgrave Park also work at the other premises.