South Korea Bird Flu Crisis

Chicken farm gate locked at Bird Flu contagion zone in Pocheon-city, South Korea. South Korea has ordered its biggest-ever cull of chickens and other poultry, gassing millions of birds to fight an avian flu outbreak spreading at what the government called an unprecedented rate. Most of the birds culled were egg-laying hens, sending local egg prices sharply higher. Among the first consumers to react, bakeries said they were are cutting down on egg purchases and some families said they were switching to other foods. The Agriculture Ministry said on Friday it had ordered the cull of 4 million more birds, which would take to 16 million the total number killed since mid-November, or almost one-fifth of the poultry population.