No further cases of bird flu reported as cull at Fife farm continues

The cull of chickens infected with bird flu at a Fife poultry farm is expected to be completed by the end of Friday.

Around 40,000 birds will have been gassed after a “mild strain” of the virus was discovered at Craigies Poultry Farm, north of Townhill.

Although human health is not said to be at risk, the destruction of the animals has been taken as a precautionary measure to prevent further outbreaks within the local bird population.

News of this latest outbreak prompted concern from Scotland’s poultry industry, however, many farmers had already introduced infection control measures at their premises when The Courier visited earlier in the week.

Vehicles visiting Loanhead Poultry Farm near Saline were already being hosed down with disinfectant when news of the outbreak at Craigies Farm broke.

However, a Scottish Government spokesperson confirmed that no further cases had been reported at this time.

Potentially fatal to birds, the H5N1 strain of bird flu is not widely transmittable to humans, but several deaths in Asia have been attributed to the disease.