A CONTROL zone has been established around a poultry farm in the Cootehill area of Cavan following confirmation yesterday of, an outbreak of Newcastle disease on the premises.
The Minister for Agriculture, Mr Yates, confirmed that 20,000 birds on the farm in Stradone, Co Cavan, had been slaughtered or had died as a result of the disease.
Investigations into the origins of what experts say is a particularly virulent strain are continuing. However, it is known that two consignments of poultry were recently imported to the premises from Northern Ireland where an outbreak of Newcastle disease in February led to the slaughter of a million birds.
A control zone designed to contain the outbreak has been established in the area bounded by the towns of Cavan, Cootehill, Bailieborough, Virginia, Ballyjamesduff, Kilnaleck and Bellanagh.
The movement of poultry, carcasses, poultry meat or hatching eggs in and out of these areas is now forbidden without a permit from a veterinary inspector of the Department. Movement of people between poultry premises is also to be kept to a minimum, although the disease is not believed to pose a risk to human health.
Similar 10 kilometre zones have been set up in the North and restrictions have been placed on imports to the South since the Northern outbreak of the disease in February.
The Department of Agriculture and the Northern veterinary authorities are investigating why new certification procedures have not prevented the spread of the disease to the Republic.
Mr Yates yesterday urged those connected with the poultry trade to take precautions to ensure no further outbreaks of the disease occur. He said stock must not be purchased from Northern Ireland without veterinary certification and that poultry producers should vaccinate their flocks against the disease if advised to do so by their veterinary practitioners.