Sixty-four thousand birds are to be slaughtered at a commercial poultry unit in Co Tyrone after the discovery of a suspected case of bird flu.
Stormont’s Agriculture Department has put disease control measures in place and sent samples off for confirmation.
The suspected outbreak was discovered near Dungannon.
A Temporary Control Zone (TCZ) has been put in place pending the results.
If confirmed, it would be the first outbreak in a commercial flock this year following confirmation of several incidents in the wild bird population.
The poultry industry is worth £600m (€720 million) to the Northern Ireland economy which is heavily reliant on the agri-food industry.
An Avian Influenza Prevention Zone (AIPZ) has applied across Northern Ireland since mid-January, requiring strict biosecurity…