Case of H5N8 bird flu in German farm, turkeys to be culled

A case of high risk H5N8 bird flu has been confirmed in the German state of Lower Saxony and about 16,000 turkeys on the farm will now be culled, authorities said on Thursday. The case was confirmed in Cloppenburg in north Germany and is the first farm-based case in Lower Saxony, one of Europe's largest poultry production regions, the state's agriculture ministry said. Several European countries and Israel have found cases of H5N8 bird flu in the past few weeks and some have ordered that poultry flocks be kept indoors to avoid the disease spreading.