Second case of bird flu detected in Jezreel Valley

Bird flu is detected at Moshav Ram-On, south of the Jezreel Valley in northern Israel, in the second case of the season.

The disease was traced to four poultry sheds housing some 34,000 hens used for breeding chickens for meat.

The first bird flu was identified earlier this month at Moshav Nahalal in the Jezreel Valley.

There, the disease was discovered in a nine-building poultry coop containing 8,700 14-week-old turkeys.

Agriculture Ministry practice is to quarantine the area within a 10- kilometer (six-mile) distance from the outbreak and to cull the poultry.

The ministry calls on all owners of pet and free-range birds to keep them indoors.

Bird flu outbreaks have been reported overseas in recent weeks, in countries including France, Germany, Poland and the US.

Between September and December last year, there were five cases of bird flu in Israel, starting in Moshav Sde Ya’akov in the north. Four kibbutzim were affected.

Since March 2006, when the first cases of bird flu were discovered in Israel, bird flu has been discovered almost every year during the bird migration season.

The Agriculture Ministry urges consumers to buy poultry meat and eggs only from regulated retailers and to cook the products well.