Bird flu suspected on second farm

Defra says 5,500 turkeys at Grove Farm in Botesdale are being "slaughtered on suspicion" of having the disease.

The farm is inside the 3km protection zone around Redgrave Park Farm where suspected bird flu was confirmed as the H5N1 strain on Tuesday.

A slaughter of poultry there is being completed. Precautionary culls are also under way at three additional farms.

They are Stone House Farm in West Harling and Bridge Farm in Pulham, both in Norfolk, plus Hill Meadow in Knettishall, Suffolk.

All three are outside the 10km (six-mile) surveillance zone around Redgrave Park Farm but lie within the wider restricted zone, covering much of Suffolk and Norfolk.

Defra ordered the culling of a total of 22,000 free-range turkeys at these three farms after it was decided there was a danger they had been exposed to the virus by the movement of people.

Same staff

With 6,500 turkeys, ducks and geese being culled at the free-range rearing unit at Redgrave Park Farm, which is near Diss, the total of birds being slaughtered is approaching 30,000.

Geoffrey Buchanan is operations director of Gressingham Foods' subsidiary, Redgrave Poultry, which operates all the sites affected.

He said: "There is a direct link between Redgrave Park Farm and these four other farms as they share the same farming staff.

"Each farm is too small for a dedicated staff, so a small team of people runs this cluster of farms."

Animal health officials are carrying out tests on the flock at Grove Farm, as well as the three precautionary culls, to establish if the highly pathogenic virus has spread.

The cull at Grove Farm became one of "slaughter on suspicion" after animal health officials turning up to kill the birds found a number of them already dead.

Mr Buchanan said the loss of a small proportion of birds was a normal part of the production process.

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