Lithuania hit with its largest bird flu outbreak

While bird flu is believed to penetrate Lithuania from neighbouring Poland, other scenarios of how the disease could enter the country shouldn't be ruled out. Photo: Canva

Almost 250,000 heads of poultry were culled at the Vilkyčių paukštynas farm in the western part of Lithuania as a result of the largest bird flu outbreak in the country in several years.

Veterinary authorities across the region have rung an alarm bell, urging farmers to tighten safety measures at their production facilities. The Lithuanian Food and Veterinary Service issued a statement, calling on poultry farmers in the country to strictly comply with the safety guidelines and report any suspicious cases of poultry diseases to local officials.

A similar statement has been issued by the Latvian Food and Veterinary Department. In 2024, Latvian veterinary officials tested 70 wild birds on the highly pathogenic avian influenza, and only one came back positive.

Poland’s trace

Bird flu is believed to penetrate Lithuania from neighbouring Poland, which is struggling against the disease, Vaidotas Kjudulas, chief veterinary doctor of the Lithuanian Food and Veterinary Service, outlined during a press conference in Vilnius.

Since the beginning of the year, 14 outbreaks of highly pathogenic avian influenza have been officially registered in Poland. As of late January, around 16,000 heads of poultry were culled to contain the spread of the disease.

However, Kjudulas said, other scenarios of how the bird flu could enter the country shouldn’t be ruled out completely.

Poultry is safe

Lithuanian poultry farmers stepped out to convince local citizens that despite the outbreak, poultry on the shelves is still safe.

Skirmantė Sokolovskienė, head of the quality control department at Vilnius Poultry, a prominent broiler meat manufacturer, said that the company’s Vilnius farm is a closed-cycle operation, with strict control of every stage of the production process.

“This means that the birds are fed only with grain purchased from Lithuanian farmers, the chicks are hatched in their own hatchery, and the poultry meat is processed in-house,” Sokolovskienė stated, adding that there is no chance the infected product would hit store shelves in Lithuania.

Expanding global impact

Bird flu is becoming a more pressing issue for poultry farmers worldwide. A recent outbreak in Massachusetts, US, has cost the local poultry industry around US$1.4 billion, and the further spread of the disease is projected to contribute to a 20% rise in egg prices in the country by the end of the year.

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