About 2,700 pheasants would be culled on a Danish poultry farm near the German border after bird flu was detected, the Danish Veterinary and Food Administration said on Wednesday.
The cull was ordered out of animal welfare concerns and to limit the risk of the spread of infection.
Bird flu viruses only rarely infect humans.
The agency called on farmers and hobby breeders in the area to move their animals into covered enclosures and feed them there.
It also recommended that contact with wild animals be avoided and breeders should clean their clothes and boots before going to their birds.
The affected pheasant farm is located near the town of Tønder, just across the border with Germany.
A protection zone and a surveillance zone had been set up within a radius of 3 kilometres and 10 kilometres respectively.
Rules included a prohibition on poultry exhibitions and strict monitoring of the movements of poultry and poultry products.
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The measures were initially applied for 30 days.
The Danish agency believed the pheasants might have been infested by wild birds that stopped off in the area during their autumn migration southwards.
As the surveillance zone extended across the German border, the authorities in the German state of Schleswig-Holstein had been informed so that they could take their steps, the agency said.
(dpa/NAN)
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