South Korea slaughters pigs, chickens to stem bird flu outbreak

SOUTH KOREA - South Korean quarantine authorities said Sunday they have culled an additional 4,000 pigs and 2,000 chickens to prevent the spread of bird flu.

According to Yohap news a total of 21,146 ducks, 2,820 chickens and 4,177 pigs have been slaughtered since Thursday, when the fourth outbreak of a highly pathogenic bird flu virus in a month was reported in Asan, about 90 kilometers south of Seoul.

The pigs were on a farm located in a 500-meter-radius of the outbreak site and the chickens on a farm within a 3-kilometer-radius, quarantine officials in the local South Chungcheong Province said.

The latest culling took place between 10 p.m. Saturday and 6 a.m. Sunday and owners of the farms were entitled to receive compensation from the government, they said.

The quarantine authorities had earlier planned not to kill other livestock such as pigs and dogs but decided to slaughter the pigs out of concern they might also spread bird flu.

ThePigSite News Desk

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