(Bloomberg) -- New Zealand officials are investigating a second egg farm in the southern region of Otago for potential cases of bird flu.
Biosecurity New Zealand “placed a precautionary restricted place notice on a small free-range farm near Dunedin, stopping the movement of material on and off the property,” deputy director-general Stuart Anderson said in a statement Wednesday.
“As is normal in biosecurity responses we always investigate where illness is identified,” he said. “The property has around 6,000 birds, with a number of deaths, and testing is underway.”
New Zealand halted all poultry exports earlier this week after confirming its first case of bird flu on an egg farm in Otago. Testing at the first property confirmed a high pathogenic H7N6 subtype of avian influenza, not the H5N1 strain causing concern globally.
Work began earlier Wednesday culling chickens at the first farm, Anderson said.
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