Bird flu outbreak in Toldijk: 5,000 birds killed! Security at risk?

Bird flu outbreak in Toldijk: 5,000 birds killed! Security at risk?

Bird flu was detected in the municipality of Bronckhorst, specifically on a pheasant farm in Toldijk, on October 28, 2025. Loud animal-health-online.de Around 5,000 birds have to be killed on this farm in order to stop the virus from spreading further. This measure is ordered by the Dutch Food and Product Safety Authority (NVWA).

Interestingly, there are no other poultry farms within the 3 km zone of the infected site. However, the farm is within a 10 km zone that was set up on October 24th due to a previous bird outbreak at a hobby farmer in Hummelo. This 10 km zone results in an additional 22 commercial poultry farms that also need to be brought to safety.

Urgent protective measures

The situation is critical because bird flu is also spreading quickly in Germany. Federal Agriculture Minister Alois Rainer draws attention to the fact that increased protective measures are necessary to protect animals and ultimately also agriculture. In Baden-Württemberg, 15,000 animals were recently killed at a poultry farm, while in northern Brandenburg over 1,000 dead cranes, also affected by the virus, were recovered. Loud tagesschau.de It is estimated that around 2,000 cranes died from avian influenza.

In October alone, 17 outbreaks have been recorded in poultry farms, which is an alarming number. In view of these developments, the Federal Ministry is forced to submit an application to the EU to increase the upper limit for compensation payments from 50 euros to up to 110 euros. The risk of further outbreaks has been raised to “high” by the Friedrich Loeffler Institute.

Precautionary measures for the population

One bright spot is that the population currently does not have a particularly high risk of serious illnesses, such as tagesschau.de reported. Nevertheless, the authorities call on people to avoid contact with dead birds and to report any finds immediately. Seasonal flu vaccination is recommended, especially for people who come into frequent contact with poultry, to prevent possible double infections.

The situation surrounding bird flu remains tense. The situation could worsen further with the autumn bird migration, which is why strict adherence to hygiene rules for poultry farmers and increased vigilance when dealing with wild birds are required.