An additional 1.2 million chickens will be slaughtered to prevent the spread of the bird flu after the virus was confirmed on an Iowa egg farm in the second massive case in a week.
The Iowa Department of Agriculture and Land Stewardship announced the latest bird flu infection at a farm in Taylor County on Nov. 10, and Iowa’s governor immediately declared a disaster there to make sure the state has the resources to respond quickly.
The Iowa case is just the latest one in the outbreak that began early last year and has prompted officials to kill a total of nearly 63 million birds.
Earlier in the week, 1 million chickens were killed on a Minnesota egg farm. But the vast majority of the cases, or nearly 58 million birds, occurred last year.
Anytime a case of bird flu is found the entire flock is killed to help keep the highly contagious virus from spreading to another farm. The U.S. Department of Agriculture has been finding fewer wild birds carrying the virus this year, which suggests that some ducks and geese may be developing immunity.