After Mid March 2023 in one Poultry farm in the area of the city of Leutershausen an officially confirmed case of avian influenza (HPAI) occurred, there are now relief measures for the first poultry farmers in terms of protective measures.
As reported by the Ansbach district office, the veterinary office has carried out numerous examinations of poultry since the outbreak. No other case of avian influenza was found. All tests carried out were negative.
Narrow protection zone is lifted
The narrower protection zone is thus abolished. Previously, there was a protection zone with a radius of three kilometers around the affected company. For the poultry farmers in Buch am Wald, the Colmberg districts of Bieg, Meuchlein and Unterfelden, the Geslau districts of Dornhausen, Hürbel and Lauterbach and the Leutershausen districts of Bauzenweiler, Frommetsfelden, Höchstetten, Pfezendorf and Zweiflingen, only the regulations of the surveillance zone apply within a radius of ten kilometers around the excavation site. This exclusion zone was set up after the outbreak of avian influenza in order to prevent any further spread of the animal disease as far as possible.
For affected companies, there is a ban on the transport of kept birds and their carcasses, eggs and fresh meat from a slaughterhouse, a cutting plant or a cold store. For a long time now, avian influenza in Germany has not only been brought in by migratory birds, but has also become established in the local populations and thus occurs regardless of the season, he said, Ralf Zechmeister, head of the Ansbach district veterinary office. As a result, the Ansbach district office changed the general decree of March 14, 2023. The new regulations come into force on the night of Friday (April 14, 2023) to Saturday at midnight.
From the beginning of next week further investigations will be carried out in the surveillance zone. If these are negative, the measures from the general decree are expected to be lifted in about a week. The Ansbach district office will provide information on this. The population is also called upon not to touch or move dead wild birds, but to report any finds to the veterinary office, the respective municipality or the police, stating the place where they were found.
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