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Austria has been declared a high-risk area for bird flu. According to the Ministry of Health, stricter safety measures will be applied in poultry farming starting at midnight. The risk has been classified as highly increased in 25 districts. Farms with more than 50 animals are required to keep poultry there.
Lower and Upper Austria, Styria, Salzburg, Carinthia, and Burgenland are high-risk areas for avian influenza. Farms with fewer than 50 animals are also exempt from the obligation to keep poultry in these areas, provided that ducks and geese are separated and their animals are protected from contact with wild birds.
Protection and surveillance zones are also set up around affected poultry farms. There, poultry owners are generally obliged to keep their birds indoors, regardless of the size of the farm. Official veterinarians inspect all farms.
No feeding outdoors
Due to the risk classification, feeding animals outdoors is prohibited throughout Austria, and contact between poultry and wild birds must be prevented by nets or roofs. New cases of bird flu were recently detected on four farms with around 200,000 animals in Upper and Lower Austria. Ulrich Herzog, Head of Veterinary Services at the Ministry of Health, reported a suspected case in a turkey farm on the border between Lower and Upper Austria during a background discussion (AGES information on the situation in Austria).
The number of cases in wild birds has also risen recently. “To contain the spread, the whole of Austria has now been declared a high-risk area,” explained the Ministry of Social Affairs and Health, which is also responsible for animal welfare, in a press release. A corresponding ordinance was published on Thursday and comes into force on Friday.
The bundle of graduated measures is intended to contain the further spread of bird flu in the best possible way. Further developments are being closely monitored. To this end, the Ministry of Health continues to be in close contact with the federal states. If necessary, the area with a greatly increased risk will be extended.
- source: orf.at/picture:
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