Japan orders slaughter of 37,000 chickens in bird flu outbreak

Chickens and captured wild birds are displayed for sale along a street in Hanoi on April 4, 2013. Vietnam on April 3 announced an immediate ban on all Chinese poultry imports and stepped up border controls after its northern neighbour reported two deaths from a new strain of bird flu. AFP PHOTO / HOANG DINH Nam

TOKYO – Japan on Tuesday ordered the slaughter of some 37,000 chickens as officials announced the third bird flu outbreak in less than a month and pledged “all necessary measures” to contain the spread.

Tests confirmed the H5 strain of the virus at a farm in Yamaguchi prefecture on the southwestern tip of Japan’s main Honshu island after its owner reported late Monday that several chickens had died suddenly, the farm ministry said.

Officials began the slaughter on Tuesday and asked farms within a 10 kilometer (six mile) radius not to transport their poultry outside of the area.

The latest confirmed case comes a day after the government ordered the slaughter of about 42,000 chicke

ns at a poultry farm in Miyazaki prefecture in southern Kyushu.

Earlier this month, bird flu reports came from another Miyazaki poultry farm that led to the cull of 4,000 chickens — the first outbreak of bird flu at a Japanese farm since April.