France will slaughter 600,000 birds to contain bird flu

France is expected to slaughter around 600,000 poultry in an attempt to contain an avian influenza virus, strain H5N8. The strain continues to spread among flocks of ducks in the southwest of the country. Slaughtering includes flocks where outbreaks have occurred and also preventive slaughtering in surrounding areas. On the first day of the year, France confirmed 61 outbreaks of H5N8, most of which were in the Landes region which an area in the southwest that supplies the foie gras industry. The H5N8 strain of avian influenza is not known to be transmissible to humans.