Overview
- - The Friedrich-Loeffler-Institut reports more than 100 outbreaks and roughly 1.5 million birds killed nationwide, with Lower Saxony the clear hotspot under broad stall-keeping orders.
- - In Grafschaft Bentheim, H5N1 is confirmed in one of ten stalls at a 436,000‑bird operation, and officials are assessing a targeted cull that could spare roughly 240,000 hens if separation between units is assured.
- - Fresh spread includes Brandenburg’s 13th farm outbreak with about 15,000 ducks to be killed, three new holdings in the Kleve area of NRW with protection and monitoring zones, and a Hessian farm where over 2,600 birds were culled.
- - Economic losses are mounting as Lower Saxony’s animal-disease fund tallies about €17 million so far, and industry groups warn of tighter supplies of German Christmas geese with average retail prices near €19.30 per kilo.
- - Health authorities say eggs and properly cooked poultry remain safe, while containment steps expand with 3‑km protection and 10‑km surveillance zones in affected areas and Spain’s nationwide quarantine for free-range flocks.