Summarised by Centrist
Eighty thousand chickens will be culled after a second barn at an Otago poultry farm tested positive for a highly pathogenic bird flu strain.
Ministry for Primary Industries confirmed the H7N6 strain, with Biosecurity Minister Andrew Hoggard calling it a “sad situation.” Wild waterfowl are suspected carriers. Officials imposed a 10-kilometre buffer zone, halted poultry exports, and began testing nearby farms to contain the outbreak. “There’s no risk to human health,” said MPI Director General Ray Smith.
