Some 88,000 ducks on a poultry farm in Dalfsen in Overijssel have been slaughtered following an outbreak of bird flu.

Six other farms which are less than three kilometres from the farm will also be monitored to see if the disease has spread and a further 26 in a 10 kilometre radius from the farm have been banned from moving birds, eggs or manure.

Hunters have also been banned from hunting duck and hunting in areas where water fowl are concentrated.

Over 3.5 million birds have been culled since the outbreak began last October and the disease has been identified on 51 farms.

The Netherlands has some 1,700 poultry farms, half of which produce eggs – totalling some 10 billion eggs a year.