An outbreak of highly pathogenic avian influenza, or bird flu, has been confirmed at an egg farm in Taichung, Mayor Lu Shiow-yen (盧秀燕) said today.
The city government has already directed personnel to disinfect the facility and all farms within a 3km radius, restrict movement in and out of the facility, and destroy all eggs originating from the farm, she said.
A mass culling for the remaining birds is scheduled for today, the city government said.
Photo: Su Fu-nan, Taipei Times
The virus has already killed 1,700 of the 7,000 hens at the farm in Fengyuan District (豐原), it said.
As the farmer failed to proactively report the outbreak to authorities, they face a fine of up to NT$1 million (US$32,006) and would not be reimbursed for any culled hens or destroyed items, the Taichung Animal Protection and Health Inspection Office said.
A whistle-blower who lives behind the facility alerted authorities and made a post on social media platform Threads saying that in the past two weeks, they had spotted a large number of dead hens on the farm’s property and being carried away in cloth bags.
The office said it received the report at 10pm on Monday.
It then sent personnel to the facility yesterday to collect samples to test for bird flu and disinfect a 3km radius around the farm.
If the farmer is found to have contravened the Act on the Prevention and Control of Infectious Animal Disease (動物傳染病防治條例), they would be liable to a fine of NT$50,000 to NT$1 million, it said.
Taichung also reported an outbreak of African swine fever at a hog farm in Wuci District (梧棲) in October last year.
The outbreak was contained before it spread to other facilities.
Additional reporting by Huang Hsu-lei
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