Another bird flu outbreak hits ostrich farmers

RAY SMUTS OSTRICH FARMERS, hopeful that the EU ban on all their products would be lifted early in the New Year, have suffered yet another set-back - a third outbreak of bird flu which has already led to the slaughter of more than 20 000 birds. All outbreaks have been confined to the Eastern Cape thus far, first the Somerset East area, then Grahamstown, and now Graaff-Reinet where 2 200 birds are to be slaughtered on three farms this week after a positive test for the H5N2 virus.