Slaughter of the ostriches starts again

RAY SMUTS MORE ostriches were slaughtered in the Mossel Bay area last week, as a counter to the H5N2 strain of bird flu which led to the culling of more than 30 000 of these birds in the Eastern Cape two years ago, resulting in a loss to the industry of some R700 million and 4 000 job losses. As was the case in 2004, the European Union has placed a ban on ostrich meat and egg exports, this time from the Mossel Bay and Riversdale areas until October.