Monthly bird flu death toll hits 700,000 as more cases reported in Iowa game fowl
Fox News
Four new avian flu cases reported at an Iowa turkey farm — and the subsequent slaughter of their entire flock — will push the disease's current monthly death toll past 700,000.
Iowa officials said the latest cases found since Friday involved 240,000 birds on turkey farms in Sac, Buena Vista, Cherokee and Ida counties all in the northwest corner of the state. Iowa leads all states with nearly 16 million chickens and turkeys slaughtered this year — more than double the next closest state of Nebraska — largely because it is the nation's largest egg producer and egg farms can include millions of chickens.
Several other bird flu cases have been confirmed this month at other turkey farms in Iowa, South Dakota, Minnesota and Missouri. An upland gamebird producer in Colorado also had to slaughter 18,000 birds to limit the spread of the virus.