MINNEAPOLIS — An outbreak of a bird flu strain that’s deadly to poultry deepened Saturday when state and federal officials confirmed a third Minnesota turkey farm was infected, this time in one of the state’s top poultry producing counties.
The federal Animal and Plant Health Inspection Service said a commercial flock of 39,000 turkeys in Stearns County of central Minnesota was infected with the highly pathogenic H5N2 strain of avian influenza, which also killed tens of thousands of turkeys at two other farms in Pope and Lac qui Parle counties of western Minnesota.
Saturday’s announcement came one day after officials announced the outbreak at the Lac qui Parle County farm, where the virus quickly killed 22,000 of the 12-weekold turkeys in one barn.
That farm now must slaughter 44,000 birds in two other barns as a precaution to prevent the disease from spreading.