The slaughter of 35,000 turkeys at a Monaghan poultry farm has been ordered by the Department of Agriculture and Food, it was announced yesterday. The Department has been monitoring an outbreak of avian flu on 15 farms in Smithborough and at adjoining farms in Co Cavan.
While tests from the UK laboratory at Weybridge show the flu strain is not harmful to humans, the birds on one farm have developed pasturella disease. This respiratory system ailment causes the birds distress, and the Department has ordered that the creatures be destroyed.
Last night the Department stressed there was no link between the Monaghan flu and a strain which killed six people in Hong Kong and led to the destruction of hundreds of thousands of poultry.
"What we have found from the initial investigation is that the birds are suffering from a strain of avian flu which is common in wild birds and is frequently passed on to farmed birds," he said. "There is no question of a link to the Hong Kong flu virus which has not been found outside that area.
"We are taking every precaution to avoid the spread of the disease and to protect human health and the health status of the other farms in the area," he said.
The concentration of poultry farms has made it vulnerable to outbreaks of poultry diseases. The last major outbreak of avian flu in the area took place in December 1995 when more than 35,000 turkeys were slaughtered at two units near Glasslough, Co Monaghan.
In 1997 a controlled zone was established around a poultry farm in Cootehill, Co Cavan, following an outbreak of Newcastle Disease in poultry.
There had been a severe outbreak of the disease in Northern Ireland which led to a ban on poultry imports to the Republic, and poultry producers in the North suffered when their flocks were destroyed.