US farms lobby to use ‘cruellest’ killing method as bird flu rages

US agriculture officials are being lobbied to make it easier for chicken farmers to use the “cruellest option” for killing birds affected by the continuing bird flu epidemic.

More than 49 million poultry birds in the US have either died as a result of bird flu or have been culled due to exposure to infected birds, echoing the havoc the disease has caused the European poultry and wild bird populations. Once an outbreak of bird flu is confirmed in a commercial flock, any remaining healthy birds must be culled under current US disease control rules. Producers are compensated by the government. Read more