Bird flu 'nightmare' hits turkey farm in UK

The farming industry was dealt another blow tonight as a new case of bird flu was discovered in turkeys.

Some 5,000 birds, including ducks and geese, were due to be culled after turkeys tested positive for the contagious H5 strain of the virus on a farm on the Norfolk/Suffolk border.

It is not yet known whether the birds were infected with a highly pathogenic form of the disease.

The discovery of the virus on the free-range farm, named by sources as Grange Farm, Redgrave, owned by Gressingham Foods, comes after a summer of misery for the farming industry already hit by foot and mouth and bluetongue.

But farming leaders moved to allay concerns that the new outbreak would lead to a shortage of turkeys in the run up to Christmas.

And the Food Standard Agency reassured consumers tonight that poultry products remain safe to eat as long as they are properly cooked.

Bird flu rarely affects humans and can only be transmitted to people through close contact with infected birds.

The Environment Department said a 3km (1.9 mile) protection zone and a 10km (6 mile) surveillance zone had been set up around the infected premises.

Inside the zones, bird movements have been restricted and all birds must be housed and isolated from wild birds, Defra said.

The EU commission has been informed, while all poultry keepers on the GB poultry register will be notified, Defra added.

Deputy chief veterinary officer Fred Landeg said the cause of the infection was not known at the moment and he urged all poultry farmers to remain vigilant.

“Everybody needs to be concerned, this is avian influenza.

“We are asking every poultry keeper to be vigilant, to house their birds where they are required to do so in any restricted area and carry out good bio-security measures and report any signs of disease.”

Dr Landeg stressed that the epidemiological investigation into the outbreak, which is at a rearing unit, would try to establish its origin but that it was still at a very early stage.

He said: “We will be looking at the movements on to the premises and off the premises of birds and movements of people, vehicles and things, to see whether there is another origin somewhere in the country or whether the disease could have spread.”

National Farmers’ Union president Peter Kendall said: “Obviously this is another huge blow to the farming industry, which is still dealing with the effects of bluetongue and foot and mouth, and we will be working closely with Defra to do all we can to contain and eradicate this disease as quickly as possible.

“We fully support the measures Defra have put in place in the protection and surveillance zones and we will be working with them to make sure producers within the zones understand the implications of the restrictions.”

Charles Bourns, chairman of the NFU’s poultry board, added: “This is obviously worrying for that part of the world.

“This problem comes on top of everything else going on, such as high food prices, so it’s worrying and concerning.”

But he said: “We have proved from the last two years that bird flu can be held on the one farm so hopefully that can be done this time.”

Shadow environment secretary Peter Ainsworth described the bird flu outbreak - the first incidence of the H5 strain in the UK since 159,000 turkeys were slaughtered at a Bernard Matthews farm in February – as “another nightmare” for the farming community.

And Lib Dem environment spokesman Chris Huhne said: “Another outbreak of bird flu after the Bernard Matthews incident makes it a hat-trick of horror stories for British farming this year: foot and mouth, bluetongue and now bird flu again.

“Ministers must pull out all the stops to contain this outbreak and identify its source.”

The RSPB’s Andre Farrar warned against jumping to the conclusion that the disease had spread to poultry from wild birds.

The autumn migration was largely over, and no wild birds had been found with avian flu in Europe since late August/early September, he added.

“Last time people went on a mad whirl of speculation on how wild birds had moved the virus and it turned out not to be the case,” he said.

“How it got into this farm needs to be a matter of urgent scrutiny.”

Two police officers were tonight standing outside the farm, monitoring the vehicles entering and leaving.

The vehicles were being sprayed with a jet hose as they entered the premises.