France to cull 600,000 more ducks in fight against bird flu virus stat : thelocal

Over 120 of these outbreaks were in the Landes department, with another 92 in the nearby Gers. Photo: AFPSome 600,000 more ducks are set to be culled in an attempt to stop a bird flu outbreak in the south west. Landes in south western France. The department of Landes, pictured above, is responsible for around a quarter of the foie gras bought in France. We know that there is still an area remaining where we will have to take action to cull all the ducks," Le Foll said.




(Changes first two paragraphs after farm minister corrects scope of the culling measure)By Claude CanellasBORDEAUX, France, Feb 21 (Reuters) - France will cull a further 360,000 ducks as part of efforts to prevent a spread of the H5N8 bird flu virus, the country's farm ministry said on Tuesday. (Reporting by Claude Canellas and Sybille de La Hamaide; Writing by Sudip Kar-Gupta; Editing by Mark Potter) The latest cull will take place in the Landes and the Pyrennees-Atlantiques regions in southwest France, which is home to most of the country's foie gras producers, it said in a statement. French Agriculture Minister Stephane Le Foll had earlier earlier told France Bleu regional radio station the government intended to order the slaughtering of all 600,000 ducks still alive in the Landes region. France launched a massive cull in January to try to contain the virus and said a month ago it would scale back preventative slaughtering after the spread of the virus slowed, but the number of farms infected has nevertheless continued to rise.


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