Lithuania is affected by a great spall of bird flu

Nearly 250,000 poultry have been slaughtered at Vilkyčių paukštynas farm in western Lithuania in the country’s largest bird flu outbreak in several years. Veterinary authorities across the region sounded the alarm, urging farmers to tighten safety measures at their production facilities. The Lithuanian Food and Veterinary Service issued a statement calling on the country’s poultry farmers to strictly follow safety rules and report any suspected cases of poultry diseases to local authorities.

The Latvian Food and Veterinary Department issued a similar statement. Latvian veterinary experts tested 70 wild birds for highly pathogenic avian influenza in 2024, and only one tested positive.

Bird flu is believed to have entered Lithuania from neighboring Poland, which is fighting the disease, Vaidotas Kydulas, chief veterinarian of the Lithuanian Food and Veterinary Service, told a news conference in Vilnius.

Since the beginning of the year, 14 outbreaks of highly pathogenic avian influenza have been officially registered in Poland. As of the end of January, some 16,000 poultry had been slaughtered to contain the spread of the disease.

However, other scenarios of bird flu entering the country cannot be completely ruled out, Kydulas said.

Lithuanian poultry farmers have issued a statement to reassure locals that despite the outbreak, poultry on the shelves is still safe.

Skirmante Sokolovskienė, head of quality control at Vilnius Poultry, a well-known broiler meat producer, said the company’s Vilnius farm is a closed cycle with strict controls at every stage of the production process.

“This means that the birds are fed only grain purchased from Lithuanian farmers, the chicks are hatched in their own incubator and the poultry meat is processed on site,” Sokolovskienė said, adding that there is no chance of contaminated product reaching store shelves in Lithuania.

Avian influenza is becoming a growing problem for poultry farmers around the world. A recent outbreak in Massachusetts, USA, cost the local poultry industry an estimated $1.4 billion, and further spread of the disease is predicted to lead to a 20% increase in egg prices in the country by the end of the year.

In the UK, poultry farmers have asked the government to allow them to vaccinate their flocks, describing the impact of the virus as “devastating”.