French authorities gas thousands of ducks after bird flu outbreaks

Workers wearing masks and protective clothes have gassed thousands of ducks in south-west France, in a massive cull that was ordered in an attempt to prevent a spread of the H5N8 bird flu virus.

At one farm in the village of Latrille, in the heartland of duck and geese rearing country, 8,000 ducks were taken by hand and put in coloured metal containers where carbon dioxide was piped in to kill them, normally within seconds.

Workers clad in head-to-toe protective suits, face-visors and gas masks, finished the slaughter in the space of a few hours.

France, which has the largest poultry flock in the European Union, has reported 95 outbreaks of the virus.

Most of the cull is taking place in and around the Gers area of south-west France, where geese and ducks are reared in vast numbers to make foie gras.

About 800,000 birds out of a population of about 18m in the whole of the south-west are due to be killed in the coming week.

Workers carry ducks before placing them in a bin filled with carbon dioxide at a poultry farm in Latrille, south-west France. Photograph: Bob Edme/AP

The operation is part of mass cull of poultry in France, which has reported 95 outbreaks of the H5N8 bird flu virus. Photograph: Bob Edme/AP

France, which has the largest poultry flock in the EU, has ordered the cull of ducks in its three most-affected regions. Photograph: Regis Duvignau/Reuters

French authorities gas thousands of ducks after bird flu outbreaks