(Archive photo)
Photo: AFP
Western Negev: Bird flu back?
Letter sent by sanitation department in southern community to poultry farmers warns against second round of disease
Residents of communities in southern Israel fear that bird flu is back. A letter from the sanitation department of the Eshkol Regional Council to poultry farmers, many of whom were hurt by the March 2006 outbreak of the disease, warns against a second round of bird flu, apparently following information on the nesting of the flu in southern Egypt and the Gaza Strip.
The poultry farmers were asked to prepare for the possibility of a renewed outbreak of the disease and were asked to designate in advance burial locations for the infected birds.
The sanitation department further demanded that the farmers inform the sanitation department of the location of the burial grounds by the end of October.
One of the framers who received the letter said that another outbreak of the bird flu will completely destroy his business.
"Of the two large farms I had with tens of thousands eggs, I was left with one farm that I just reopened," he said.
A Ministry of Agriculture official said that the indication of the existence of the disease in southern Egypt requires the government to take precautionary measures.
