After controlling an outbreak of bird flu at the Vilkyčiai poultry farm of the agricultural trading group „Groward Group“, the Šilutė municipality has lifted the local emergency declared at the end of January, the mayor of the district says. 

The situation was lifted last week, two weeks after it was declared, according to Vytautas Laurinaitis.

„It has been lifted because everything – the birds have been utilised, the bird flu has not spread beyond the outbreak. It is no longer appropriate," Laurinaitis told BNS on Tuesday.

„The district has managed to contain bird flu“, – he added.

BNS previously reported that the municipality declared a local state of emergency within a 3-kilometre radius around a poultry farm in the town of Vilkyčiai, about 22 km from Šilutė, on 29 January. It authorised the deployment of a larger police force to protect the area, as well as the use of funds from the municipality's reserve fund.  

„Movement around the fireplace and along the street was restricted, signs were put up and a police crew was on duty. A company (Polish – BNS) was hired to dispose of the chickens, (...) then disinfected the whole area“, – said V. Laurinaitis.

More than a quarter of a million birds have been destroyed in the Šilutė district following the detection of avian influenza.

An outbreak of highly pathogenic avian influenza was confirmed at the end of January at the poultry farm in Vilkyčiai.

The farm is owned by the Groward Group, one of Lithuania's largest food producers, which is indirectly controlled by the owners of the Vičiūnai Group – the Mayor of Kaunas, Visvaldas Matijošaitis, and Liudas Skieras &ndash.