AOMORI: The Aomori prefectural government started Thursday afternoon to cull all of some 1.37 million chickens raised at a poultry farm in the city of Misawa, where an outbreak of highly pathogenic avian influenza has been confirmed.

The number of chickens to be slaughtered due to an avian flu outbreak is the largest ever for a single farm in Japan, according to the agriculture ministry. It is expected to take about a month to cull all of the egg-laying hens at the Misawa farm.

The latest case is the second bird flu outbreak at a farm in the northeastern Japan prefecture this season and the 35th across the country.

At the request of Aomori Governor Shingo Mimura, who is now on a business trip to Taiwan, 60 Japanese Ground Self-Defense Force troops were dispatched to join the work to slaughter the chickens.

In response to the outbreak, the prefectural government held a crisis management headquarters meeting at its head office in the city of Aomori, the capital of the prefecture. “Chicken farming is an important industry that underpins the local economy, so we must prevent infection from spreading to other farms by all means,” Mimura, who took part in the meeting online, said, instructing prefectural officials to thoroughly take necessary measures.

The operator of the Misawa farm reported to the prefecture Wednesday that the number of birds that died in one of its chicken coops had increased to 180, according to the local government.

Simple tests were conducted on 13 of the dead chickens, and 11 of them showed positive results. Genetic testing confirmed the outbreak Thursday.

At a press conference in Tokyo Thursday, Chief Cabinet Secretary Hirokazu Matsuno, the top spokesman of the national government, said, “We are ready to provide necessary support (to cope with the outbreak) while working closely with the Aomori prefectural government.”

JIJI Press