Health officials pull chickens from their cages at a poultry farm in Ibaraki Prefecture on June 27.

Some 60 workers, including employees of the prefectural livestock industry division and a local public health center, began destroying the chickens at the Arebamento Kanto farm after the prefecture issued the order.

The workers also collected 21,011 eggs and finished disinfecting the area around the poultry house, the prefecture said.

The move is mandatory under a law to prevent infectious diseases from spreading among livestock and poultry.

The farm ministry said June 26 that about 800 chickens at the farm had died between April and June.

It announced a ban on transporting chickens and eggs within a 5-km radius of the farm to places outside of the area to prevent the virus from spreading.

The Japan Times Weekly: July 2, 2005
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