Outbreaks of bird flu have been found in 3 farms in Rakovski, BNT reported. Over 28,000 ducks have been killed, the Bulgarian Food Safety Agency announced.
To prevent the spread of the infection, the authorities have designated border zones around the outbreaks, which are being monitored and controlled.
The poultry farmers from the three infected farms themselves reported the disease to the Food Agency after noticing increased mortality.
On Chavdar Gendov's farm, 200 ducks began to die per day.
"Experts from the Bulgarian Food Safety Agency investigated how it happened, where it came from, it is known that it is in wild birds, but in principle we keep the ducks indoors, we do not let them outside," said Chavdar Gendov, a poultry farmer from Rakovski.
The farmers rule out that the infection occurred through feed, since they used different producers. However, the remaining quantities of it will also be destroyed.
"We are proceeding with the depopulation of the livestock facilities, at the moment this has already been done. It was done as quickly as possible in order to avoid the risk of other farms being affected, while complying with biosecurity measures," commented Dr. Chavdar Chavdarov, Director of the BFSA-Plovdiv Regional Office.
Farmers whose ducks were killed due to the infection are entitled to compensation.
They can breed birds again after the quarantine, but they must comply with the legal procedure and obtain permission from the BFSA.
The industry believes that additional measures should be taken.
"In my personal opinion, vaccination is the only way to create an immune response and prevent the outbreak of such outbreaks and market shocks. France solved the problem in this way," said Kalin Yovchev, farmer.
The Food Agency called on farmers to report immediately if they notice symptoms of the disease.